The Official Goodbye to Aaron Jones thread

[Guiness]

This is the type of jaw-droppingingly insightful, paradigm-shifting football knowledge that makes you such a great poster.

You can observe a lot by just watching.

[texaspackerbacker]

Obviously, just the existence and title of this thread pisses me off.

Hell yeah, Aaron Jones is every bit as good as any of those three RBs or anybody else currently running in the NFL. If that's the market price, and if the cap stays at last year's level as I think it will or goes higher, and even if we can't get Jones to take a bit of a discounted amount to stay with the Packers, then we should go ahead and pay him. It certainly can be done.

Like basically everybody on the Packers, he had a shitty game Sunday. And yeah, he ain't Barry Sanders - who hopped and juked and sometimes took losses, but made something out of nothing with a bad O Line pretty much his whole career. He also ain't Jim Brown or O.J., but he is the best RB we've had since Ahman Green, and he the unique kind of breakaway threat we need.

[Joemailman]

That luck is called perennial all-pro that they landed in the 4th round named David Bakhtiari. You are poco loco if you think he's walking, and he is poco loco if he thinks he's getting 22M per year when the cap is dropping 60-80M next year (probably spread out over 5 years realistically so let's assume it really is a 100M drop over 5 years, or 20M total next year). There absolutely, positively 100% will be contraction in players deals. If not at the high end, certainly at the mid-range.

Owners and NFLPA agreed to spread drop over 3 years. Salary cap this year is 198 million. They've agreed cap will not be lower than 175M next year. Could be a bit higher depending on revenues. Realistically, we're probably looking at cap being about 20M lower in 2021 than this year.

[texaspackerbacker]

A question for ya'all cap experts: what happens if a team exceeds the cap? I know the NBA has their "luxury tax", but I've never heard of that sort of thing in the NFL.

[call_me_ishmael]

You cannot exceed the salary cap, that's why you've never heard of it. It's a hard cap. NBA is a soft cap.

[GB-Brandon]

Aaron Jones was never getting resigned.

[run pMc]

Aaron Jones was never getting resigned.

I would tend to agree with this. Stories of how there have been talks with his agent are likely to keep him happy with the team.
He's a good player and he has a nose for the end zone. He's one of the few dynamic players an opposing defense has to account for, something not said of many GB skill position players beside Adams. Would I like to keep him? Sure, but I wouldn't want to pay him Kamara money. I think it's a position they should constantly be trying to replace via draft, etc. Look around the league and how fast guys like Bell, Fournette, Gurley wash out and get replaced by newer younger RBs.

While the cap can be cooked, there are limits... sure you could cook and stretch it only to find when 2028 hits you have no cap space. I think of cap cooking in the Covid era as like trying to continuously borrow against a frozen credit limit.

[gbgary]

terrific player but they can't afford him. most of those guys in their final contract won't be resigned. the Packers are in the bottom third of the league in cap space next season and only have 36 guys under contract for 2021. on top of that the cap next year will be $175m or slightly above. and to make matters even worse rodgers' hit is a ridiculous 36.3m of that 175ish cap for 2021.

[GB-Brandon]

I would tend to agree with this. Stories of how there have been talks with his agent are likely to keep him happy with the team.
He's a good player and he has a nose for the end zone. He's one of the few dynamic players an opposing defense has to account for, something not said of many GB skill position players beside Adams. Would I like to keep him? Sure, but I wouldn't want to pay him Kamara money. I think it's a position they should constantly be trying to replace via draft, etc. Look around the league and how fast guys like Bell, Fournette, Gurley wash out and get replaced by newer younger RBs.

While the cap can be cooked, there are limits... sure you could cook and stretch it only to find when 2028 hits you have no cap space. I think of cap cooking in the Covid era as like trying to continuously borrow against a frozen credit limit.

They drafted Dillon in 2nd round. End of story!!

Not re-singing Jones is one of the few things I agree with Gute on.

[texaspackerbacker]

You cannot exceed the salary cap, that's why you've never heard of it. It's a hard cap. NBA is a soft cap.

If that's the case, how do they enforce it? Never mind new contracts; If the panic mongers are correct, a lot of teams' existing contracts will exceed the cap. You can't just make a rule that supersedes written contracts.

I read that Joe or somebody posted that the players association actually agreed to a $20 million or so cut in the cap. Maybe, although I haven't read that anywhere else. Regardless, the cap can always be cooked, and I'm not so sure it can't just be broken without sanctions.

[texaspackerbacker]

terrific player but they can't afford him. most of those guys in their final contract won't be resigned. the Packers are in the bottom third of the league in cap space next season and only have 36 guys under contract for 2021. on top of that the cap next year will be $175m or slightly above. and to make matters even worse rodgers' hit is a ridiculous 36.3m of that 175ish cap for 2021.

So what the fuck is gonna happen? Those guys with expiring contracts are just gonna be out on the street? Or signing for a million or so a season? Come on. We all know that isn't gonna happen. Somebody will sign them - maybe for slightly less than what is now thought to be the market price, so why not the Packers? Everybody is basically in the same boat.

Restructure Rodgers to a million or so with the understanding that when he's finally done, we keep him on for one more overpaid year. Use the $35 million or so saved to retain Aaron Jones, Linsley, and that sacred cow, Bakhtiari. I think Rodgers would go for that - heaven knows he's already rich enough.

[RashanGary]

The Saints might be the youngest team in the league next year. They’re gonna have to cut everyone they can.

[RashanGary]

Patriots one of the few good teams with a lot of cap space. They’re the front runner to exploit this situation and win a SB without Brady next year.

[Bretsky]

I agree that Jones is gone; that make the Dillon pick make sense. Him excelling so well makes it hard. But odds are it will still happen

[call_me_ishmael]

Let him walk, get a 3rd, draft a scat back, rinse repeat. He is a very good player and I will miss him but I view paying any RB that isn't Adrian Peterson-esque a second contract being a bad choice.