In 2023, Hurts will earn a base salary of $4,204,000 and a workout bonus of $100,000, while carrying a cap hit of $4,789,486 and a dead cap value of $485,486.
^^^ That is Why ^^^
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And also Devonte Smith etc. - basically they have some younger cheaper players who are emerging.
They will have a number of starters who are FA - Javon Hargraves is going to break the bank.
Also, Howie Roseman is a pretty good GM, and he's managed to steal some picks and players from NO.
With KC, they have to be up against the cap -- they're talking about Frank Clark being let go. They did well without Tyreek Hill, if he was on the team they would be in worse shape. Also, Mahomes' cap number jumps next year from $36M to $49M.
Where teams are now with cap is just a snapshot in time. Dead money comes from cutting players, which usually happens because the team is otherwise going to be over the cap. It can be made worse by restructuring to move money into later years.
Looking at the Packers, for example, we just voided and restructured deals. That means we have roster spots to fill and we pushed contract risk for restructured players into future years. A team that was in decent cap space wouldn't have needed to make similar cuts, so they may have a larger cap number, lowe dead money and have lost less through cuts.
I'm not familiar with what's the big deal about the Saints. They are second from worst on the chart, and Tampa is nearly twice as bad off as they are. They may not be fine this year for kinda the same reason as the Bears won't be fine - they don't have very good players. They will, however, OF COURSE field a team, and I doubt it will be significantly worse than they were last season. You mentioned the Chiefs - 5 notches worse than the Packers but very little dead money. Yeah, that might be an indicator of quality - few high paid players that failed (often a matter of injuries or other forms of luck). The Texans also have relatively little dead money, though, and they stunk last season and probably next also.
There was discussion of the Eagles somewhere in here. They are just below the Packers cap-wise, and presumably they have a huge contract coming up for Hurts. I doubt their fans are whining or worrying, but maybe some are, just like in here.
I say again, as I've said for maybe a decade or more, and this chart seems to point out, teams that play it close to the edge of the cap tend to have more success than those who are too cautious. As I also have said for at least a decade, LUCK is the primary factor in a lot of areas.
Just because the cap can be handled or defeated doesn't mean you can buy a winner - sorta what runpMc said in this or another thread, there are limits.
Re: the Eagles, here's their list of FA:CB James Bradberry, S C.J. Gardner-Johnson, DT Fletcher Cox, DE Robert Quinn, DE Brandon Graham, DT Javon Hargrave, C Jason Kelce, G Isaac Seumalo, T Andre Dillard, LB Kyzir White, LB T.J. Edwards, DT Ndamukong Suh, DT Linval Joseph, RB Miles Sanders, RB Boston Scott
They have $6M of cap space. Per Football Outsiders, the defensive players on this list logged 7000 snaps in total. Their defense will likely look completely different next year.
It's also worth pointing out that besides AJ Brown, they also dealt picks for now-FA's Gardner-Johnson and Quinn. They really went after it this year and came just short.
It's hard to win a Super Bowl.
The cap discuss is a joke. Nobody argues that a team will be unable to field enough players. That's just stupid thing to even bring up.
It's simpler that that. Every team is competing for the same players, whether it's true free agency or resigning before players hi t free agency. A team that has more cap room can pay more to sign better players, sign more players, or both.
So, you can always move things around to field a full roster, but comparatively teams are able to sign better or more players based on past decisions. There are no free passes.
Cap hell + low passing talent is presumably the reason Sean Payton left the Saints.
Cap room undoubtedly is one of the factors in who free agents go to, but far from the only factor. It's at least as important which teams are willing to stretch things to the limit and which ones are not. Another factor, of course, is current players and coaches that potential FAs want to play with and for. The bottom line is that even though there is a limit, teams can do pretty much whatever the decide is necessary.
From what I gather from these posts above, it seems like New Orleans had some bad luck - injuries, etc. - that hurt them a lot more than cap or dead money problems.
They can offer pretty much whatever they want. It's still up to the player - and usually other factors who they go to. Supposedly the Packers offered Davante Adams as much or more than the Raiders but he chose to take the Raider offer.
As for that "same set of players", not every team values players the same, and as I said, there are a ton of other non-cap related reasons why players decide where to go.
Deflecting? I'm just saying that cap space is far from the only factor in getting free agents, and for that matter, getting free agents is even farther from the only factor in having a good team. Do you disagree with that?