NFL Offseason/Free Agency Thread

[SudsMcBucky]

The key word is "eventually". By the time eventually rolls around, the cap is much higher and the benefits are realized.

Buying championships - in football or baseball - isn't all it's cracked up to be. A helluva lot of small market teams with less money have outperformed the richer ones. Luck and smarts have a lot more to do with success than money.

Continually cooking the cap can lead to a team not being able to offer an UFA the same amount of money when that bill comes due. That's where it hurts. For instance, there were players we couldn't go after this year because the bill finally came due on AR. Same next year with what's left of Bakh's contract. Again, these bills DO come due and it will make it so you can't offer someone new the same amount of money that another team can at that given time.

[Frozen Tundra]

Continually cooking the cap can lead to a team not being able to offer an UFA the same amount of money when that bill comes due. That's where it hurts. For instance, there were players we couldn't go after this year because the bill finally came due on AR. Same next year with what's left of Bakh's contract. Again, these bills DO come due and it will make it so you can't offer someone new the same amount of money that another team can at that given time.

I can't believe this still needs to be explained to people. It's like people think that as long as they have checks in the checkbook, they can just keep writing checks.

[texaspackerbacker]

I can't believe this still needs to be explained to people. It's like people think that as long as they have checks in the checkbook, they can just keep writing checks.

Did you (or would you) postpone buying a house or a car until you had enough money to pay cash for it? Or would you "cook" the limit of your finances with a mortgage or car loan? THAT's what needs to be explained to people. You are anticipating that you will have more money (or cap space) in the future, so you kick the can down the road and benefit in the meantime.

[Frozen Tundra]

Did you (or would you) postpone buying a house or a car until you had enough money to pay cash for it? Or would you "cook" the limit of your finances with a mortgage or car loan? THAT's what needs to be explained to people. You are anticipating that you will have more money (or cap space) in the future, so you kick the can down the road and benefit in the meantime.

When I buy a house or a car, I usually expect to keep them for several years - not buy one or two more houses and cars every single year for the indefinite future. So the payment becomes a fixed, one-time part of my yearly budget, and stays constant for years or even decades.

[bobblehead]

When I buy a house or a car, I usually expect to keep them for several years - not buy one or two more houses and cars every single year for the indefinite future. So the payment becomes a fixed, one-time part of my yearly budget, and stays constant for years or even decades.

Wait...you don't refinance it every 4 years and then continue paying for it during the "void years" 3 years after you move out?? You must be doing it wrong.

[NewsBruin]

Continually cooking the cap can lead to a team not being able to offer an UFA the same amount of money when that bill comes due.

And since you're trading unguaranteed money (future seasons' salary) for spread-out guaranteed money (prorated bonuses), you can't cut or trade that player without getting an anvil dropped on your salary-cap plans. So if you "cook the books" or "kick the can" or whatever metaphor (It's easy! Any team can do it!), you're hoping that this is a dude who can play the whole term of his contract, who won't change for the worse when a huge bonus is dropped in his lap, and who won't be a big cloud of stink in the lockerroom.

My local team, the Saints, had their head coach leave for the Rockies once he saw that his retirement-postponing QB wasn't postponing it anymore and years of his prorated salaries were gonna come due -- causing them to cut more players to clear cap space. Now that I write it out, I'm thrilled he's got a Russel Wilson-sized hole in the 2023 and 2024 salary caps.

Personally, I don't subscribe to the "If we spend a lot of money and make it to the Conference Championship, I'll be okay as the division's doormat for seasons to come!" THAT is what I think of as true credit-card mentality.