Thurman#1

Just knowing there is a person called Dicaprio Bootle made my day.

No such thing as a useless pick. But yeah, nice value.

Right. Plus they're wizards and warlocks and mega-geniuses. Sigh.

Meet Larsson Larssonsson, TE out of Iowa. He's now a Viking. His current contract has him owed $40M over the next four years, $10M each in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025. All unguaranteed base salary, for simplicity. His cash equals his cap hit, $10M etc year. The Vikes need cap spaces they approach him for one of these deals. They say, "Larsson, lay off the lutefisk and listen up. How about we convert $8M of your 2022 base salary into a signing bonus to help us with the cap?" Larsson's agent says, "Hey, no downside, Larsson, do it." Larsson walks out the door with a check for $8M in his pocket, and heads for the smorgasbord to celebrate. Done deal. The Vikes hold a PC and say, "Yeah, we're real cap wizards, we've created $6M of extra space to sign a guy." The reporters pile on the hosannas and the fans lay garlands before them in the street. So what happened? In terms of cash, absolutely nothing. The Vikes gave him $8M in cash, and he'll get the remainder of his salary, $2M, week by week through the 17 games of the season. Larsson's 2022 cash total is still unchanged and of course the Vikes 2022cash also unchanged, $10M to Larsson. But the Vikes cap for 2022 has $6M more space. Where did it come from? Larsson has a 4-year contract. When you sign a signing bonus, the bonus is evenly divided into as many pieces as there are years on the contract, in this case, four. (Boring detail: it can't be divided into six or moe, even if the contract is six years or longer. Five max.) But Larsson has four years, so it's four equal pieces of $2M each. And each of those little teeny $2M chunks is applied to each year of the contract. So the original cap structure was: 2022 $10M 2023 $10M 2024 $10M 2025 $10M Total: a cap hit of $40M The new cap structure looks like this: 2022 $4M ($2M salary and 25% of the amortized bonus) 2023 $12M ($10M base salary and 25% of the amortized bonus) 2024 $10M ($10M base salary and 25% of the amortized bonus) 2025 $10M ($10M base salary and 25% of the amortized bonus) Total: a cap hit of $40M Larsson's cap hit over the whole four-year contract is the same $40M. The cap hit has not been changed one iota, it's only been delayed. Money moved from the 2022 cap to the 2023 cap = $2M Money moved from the 2022 cap to the 2024 cap = $2M Money moved from the 2022 cap to the 2025 cap = $2M Money "created" = zero

If you are talking about the $155.25M in guarantees for the new FAs, those guarantees will be paid in cash over the next two or three years. They're not all cash this year. Christian Kirk, for example, got $37M guaranteed at signing. That will NOT all be in cash this year. Some will, some not. This year in cash he will get $20M signing bonus, $1.5M base salary guaranteed, a $500K roster bonus and a $500K workout bonus. $22.5M cash. Next year's salary is also guaranteed, $15.5M. But he will not receive the cash till next year. Cap hit for team will also be next year. So far, Jax has signed up to spend $205.3 M in cash next year. Go to the link, then click the menu that says "salary cap" and then change it to "cash" https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/jacksonville-jaguars/cap/ Kirk is on there for $22.5M in cash.

Can you be more specific? What are you talking about? Can you give me a link to where you got this figure?

It doesn't "create" cap space. It moves cap space from future year/years to this year. You're borrowing from future years. Money paid to a player MUST be taken from the cap. But it can be delayed. That's why they call it kicking cans down the road. That's why all the credit card analogies. There isn't any money that you wouldn't have to pay otherwise. With the exception that when you turn it into a bonus, you are paying it in cash at signing. Even if you cut him the next day, that money must be put on the cap. Whereas if it was unguaranteed base salary and you cut the guy the next day, you owe nothing. That's why you only do these deals with guys you're sure will be on the team.

That's not smoke and mirrors. It's the understanding that many contracts contain possible ways to borrow money from future years, but that if you cash in these coupons, you're making those future less flexible. Again, look at the link. It shows cash spending for every team in 3021. Do you see any teams approaching $400M? Dude, that is not a reasonable method. You're counting some money twice. You can't just add in their cap. A great deal of this year's cap was actually paid last year and in the four years before, in bonuses. For a Bills example, Diggs counts as a $17+M cap hit. But he's only receiving $13.561M in cash. (Look at "yearly cash" on Diggs' Spotrac page.

Ralph was cash to cap when he didn't think much of the roster. When he thought they had a real chance to be competitive, he would spend more. As for spending "double," while it's theoretically possible, it doesn't happen. For instance, the highest spender of cash last year was the Saints. They spent $215M. The Bills were 5th at $201.4M. https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cash/ The teams all get the amount of the salary cap, in cash, each year from the league. Liquidity isn't as much of a problem as the owner's urge to draw money out as profit.

No. The amount of cash they have to pay is exactly the same. They just pay it sooner if they change it to a signing bonus. I mean, it's theoretically different, because the guy could get cut before the salary is paid, and once it's a bonus you're on the hook for it.. That's why they only do this kind of deal for guys they're sure will be on the team through the year.

Screwing selves again. Again, it can be done. Generally shouldn't be. Everyone does it some, and they should. But overdone, it absolutely can handicap you in future years.

$$. Don't hold your breath.

Moore is coming off his rookie deal, 4 yrs / $11M. Different situation. You do not want an angry locker room the next couple years. They'll pay him. How much is another issue. He's a core player.

The 7th will have a Burrow, Jackson, Watson or Herbert. Or not. It's better every year to get it. If we don't get it, we shrug shoulders and move on. Same if we do get it, really. They'll be very aware of it, certainly.

Emotion in a decision isn't always a bad thing. Only if it makes you do something stupid. Did Sal say anything about "raw emotion," or is that you?

Bills rarely ask for this kind of money back unless they think the guy signed in bad faith. Few teams do. It happens, but rarely.

$$, unfortunately.

First, 42 points wasn't exactly "their 2nd most points all season." It was in a 3-way tie for second-most. They scored that much four times. More, they scored 42 points against us because our offense was good enough to match them in regular time and force overtime and the Chiefs got an extra drive in. When Mahomes was playing well last year, very few teams were able to stop them. Our offense was just as awesome when playing well. But KC was terrific.

If you think Von is great, then we have two great ones. The last half of the year or so, Ed Oliver was kicking butt and taking names. He is on the way up and has already been one of the best at his position. For less than a year, but he's been great.

"December at the earliest" is a really pessimistic prediction for White. It could take that long, absolutely, but that's far from the earliest it could be. He could be back to normal by the end of camp. That would be more like the earliest. I'm expecting a low- to mid-priced FA and then drafting a guy in the top three rounds. Maybe even another in the late rounds. That's my best guess.

Really silly, funny, inspirational and interesting. Thanks for posting it.

He got a much higher offer. When our QB was still Tyrod. His last year here was Rex's last year. We were being crushed by the cap and the necessity to dump a ton of contracts to clean up the cap. Their offer just wasn't close to L.A.'s How can you blame him? Especially on a second contract, nearly anyone in the league is going to go with an offer that's much higher. I love him, I totally understand why he left, I'd love to see him here again but it ain't gonna happen. Having brought in Von Miller, we're very very unlikely to bring in more higher-level contracts. My hope for receiver right now is from the draft. It's a great year for draft WRs. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see an FA WR but at a lowish- to medium-level contract.

There's zero indication anyone at OBD considers Star a malcontent. Zero. Nonetheless, his lack of availability is a legitimate concern. As for DTs, how many more? As many as they want. We need competition, always. Now if I've got it right they have DaQuan Jones, Jordan Phillips, Tim Settle, Ed Oliver, Star Lotulelei and Eli Ankou. And they might well draft one somewhere. That's competition, and the more the merrier. If Star plays the way he did after Covid, say goodbye. If someone disappoints, trade 'em for a low pick or cut 'em. It's great letting the lowest two or three there know they'd better work hard, 'cause they're on the bubble.

Yes, this.

Nonsense. We're two years in on Epenesa and one on Basham. We don't know yet who they will become. And it really is true that at the time, both were considered bargains and probably were BPA when drafted. Just as quick examples, Daniel Jeremiah had him at #54 and Gil Brandt had him at #38. Those are the first two I checked. There are a million more out there, but that's a fair range for him, if I remember correctly. Brandt had Epenesa at #40 and Jeremiah at #26. BPA doesn't mean "guaranteed to become the best player available." There are no guarantees. It means something along the lines of "Best Prospect Available." Basham and Epenesa were among the one or two most highly valued players available at the time they were picked. They may well both turn into excellent players. Or not. We'll have to see. Nah. Sometimes there is a reason a guy falls. Other times it's DK Metcalf. Plenty of times it's not some one reason so much as many reasons, like Team A would like him but like another player just as much and the other guy is at a position of greater need. Or Team B's owner wants them to pick another guy. Or Team C has a terrific player at the position already whom they just signed to a long-term contract. Or Team D has the guy ranked very low, even though he turns out to be DK Metcalf. Rodgers may be an outlier, but there are a ton of outliers out there. Brady, Rodgers, Metcalf, Maualuga, Justin Houston, DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy, Steven Jackson, Randy Moss, Thurman Thomas. Lots more out there.