Thurman#1

When the line became functional, Singletary was anything but inconsistent.

Going "all in" isn't what he does. It sounds macho and aggressive, so you hear it a lot on boards. The players and coaches should be all in for this year. Ever year. But the GM is the guy who has to balance long and short term interests. Beane has made his values and his main goal very clear right from his first P.C. He wants to be consistently competitive. Hewants to be there every year. He said it at his first P.C. and many many times since. He'll make moves to improve us this year, but he's not throwing away the future, and that's what letting go a bunch of picks from the first four or five rounds to trade up high does. Only time he's done that was to move up for a QB. Doing it for a QB is industry best practice. Doing it otherwise is not.

This is part of the value of the McDermott system. Look at the DBs drafted by McD in Carolina.Above the 4th round, only two, Bradberry (2nd) and Daryl Worley (3rd), in six years. Got Josh Norman in the 5th. Not saying they won't, but they don't have to go CB in the 1st. It's just what most are saying. Could be IOL (got to protect Allen), CB, WR, maybe even DL.

Tampa's drafting was consistent and fantastic. It's the reason Brady chose that team. They absolutely did not throw away high They built that team through the draft. They were one of the obvious choices for Brady because they were consistently very good drafters with the exception being QB. "Who is to say that Beane ... "? Oh, you're that guy.

That definition of being all in is nuts. You don't throw away the future to improve your shot this year. Especially with the future we have. You don't go all in. You go the smart amount of in.

Nah. $$. The big move was Miller. More smaller ones could happen.

Diggs will be here for a long long time.

The 10.8 months isn't about being ready to play. Read the actual study, found in the footnotes of your link there. It's about returning to game play. So if guys were ready in mid-July, they still didn't return until Week 1. Doesn't look to me like a coincidence that the off-season is just over 8 months. That puts the average time at about mid-season for those who could return by week one. How many guys get hurt in OTAs or camp, miss the whole season and then can't see game play till September even if healthy in June. Also, they weren't claiming great accuracy. They only studied 31 guys who came back. That's just not a big enough sample size to claim accuracy, nor do they. 31 guys and too many other factors. Their only claim that they make based on their own numbers is that people are recovering faster than genuinely believed.

We have the right to match but Beane doubtless has figure he won't go beyond. We could easily lose him if there is an offer. I'm hoping we don't, but the fact that most of us don't want to lose him could easily mean other teams might want him enough to give him a tough offer to match.

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.