Tuco

Well the current CBA that runs through 2030 strictly forbids going to an 18 game schedule. Or, to put it another way, has already been agreed (not) to. So yes it is possible for it to happen in 5 years, but only if both the players and owners want it to.

Yeah there's a lot of fine print in that section for sure. One thing I might add (as another who is just reading publicly available material), it looks as though the extra game check only applies to players who signed their contract prior to the latest CBA signing in February of 2020. I guess the idea is anybody who signed a contract after that date had to be aware the change to 17 games was very likely and therefore signed their contract with that knowledge. There's also some other stuff further down about if the fund where the extra game check money should come from isn't enough plus something about whether the actual player cost is above (or maybe below I don't remember, lol) the 48.5% or whatever it is then teams can apply for a cap credit of some sort which can be spread over 3 years at the team's discretion. Or some other stuff along those lines. That part got really technical so I figured I'd just read about it if and when it happens, LOL.

Here we go again. I realize it's partly the fault of the people who write these articles, because when they say the Bills can assign him to the practice squad as the exempted player it makes it sound like Wade has no say in the matter. That's not true. As we know, he can stay through the offseason and try to make the team. But if he doesn't make the team and clears waivers he is free to go anywhere he wants, either by signing a contract with another team or by signing onto any team's (not just Buffalo's) practice squad. He only gets "assigned" to the Bills practice squad with the exemption if both he and the Bills agree to that. Nobody is holding him back.

While I agree it's not likely he'll amount to anything special, I would like to point out he has made less than $300,000 so far. That's still not bad I know. But I don't know where you get this $1.5-2M from.

He only becomes ineligible if he agrees to it. I can't understand why so many people don't get that.

As another with way too much time on my hands, here's a list of CBA allowed incentives a punter could have in his contract - TEAM INCENTIVES- Opposition punt return average ALL PLAYER INCENTIVES- Wins Playoffs Conference Championship Super Bowl Touchdowns on returns and recoveries Net difference takeaways/giveaways OTHER- Special teams play time PUNTING- Gross average (40 punts) Net average (40 punts) Inside 20-yard line HONORS AND RECOGNIZED MEDIA VETERAN HONORS PRO BOWL ALL NFL (First and Second Team) ALL CONFERENCE (First and Second Team) SUPER BOWL MVP (ROZELLE TROPHY)

Sorry but you're wrong. It has all been accounted for and reported as such, for quite some time now. But for starters let's look at a real website instead of what was originally reported by some Twitter guy looking for attention. Go here- https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/agents-take-2021-nfl-offseason-dates-to-know-for-free-agency-contract-options-franchise-tags-and-more/ - then scroll down to March 17 and you will see this paragraph- Bills: The first day of a five-day period for the team to exercise options for offensive tackle Dion Dawkins and cornerback Tre'Davious White's 2024 and 2025 contract years worth $10.3 million and. $12,535,093, respectively. Paying the required $7.5 million for Dawkins' 2024 contract will drop his fully guaranteed $14.8 million 2021 base salary to a fully guaranteed $7.3 million. The $7.5 million for White's 2025 contract year will take his fully guaranteed $17.95 million 2021 base salary to a fully guaranteed $10.45 million. For now we'll just look at Tre White. It's probably still not clear the way it's worded, but what they're talking about is taking $7.5 million of 2021 salary, using an option to turn that into signing bonus (or prorated option bonus if you will), bringing his $17.95 million salary for 2021 down to $10.45 million. And in doing so, the option also calls for adding a year to White's contract in 2025 worth $12,535,093. Now let's look at White's Spotrac page- We can see White's 2021 salary is listed as $10.45 million, with the $17.95 million figure already reduced by the $7.5 million option bonus turned signing bonus that started this whole thing. We can further see that the 2025 season with an exact total of $12,535,093(salary, $10,485,093 + roster bonus, $1,750,000 + workout bonus, $300,000 = $12,535,093), the same as the above mentioned amount, has been added. And lastly, we can also see the $7.5 million that was taken from the $17.95 2021 salary (reducing it to $10.45 million) has been paid and is listed with a $1,500,000 million proration under the "option" bonus tab (again, yes it is counted in the cap hit) for the years 2021-2025 ($1.5 million X 5 years = $7.5 million). Dawkins contract looks the same only the years and numbers are different. So the option for each player was, (A) don't exercise it and leave their 2021 salaries at $17.95 million and $14.8 million guaranteed, or (B) exercise the option by taking $7.5 million from each of their guaranteed salaries (making them $10.95 million and $7.3 million instead, add a year onto each (2024 for Dawkins, 2025 for White) in order to gain an extra year to prorate the $7.5 million bonus. No doubt the Bills didn't want to go into the new season with a $17.95 million plus cap hit for White and a $14.8+ million for Dawkins only to then reduce their cap numbers after they made room for all that under the cap. So they went with option B, which was no doubt the plan all along. It's a certainty they sent an official notice to the league informing them they would be exercising these 2 options the moment the new year went into effect, at 4:00 PM on the 17th. And Spotrac, with all their resources knew about it and has reported it as such. Regardless, everything that's going to happen is already accounted for and reported on Spotrac. There is no $15 million story, and nothing is going to change in regards to these options in the next 5 days. Not in 2021, 2024 or 2025.

If you look at the numbers closely, and then realize that almost every guaranteed option bonus is almost always exercised and pro-rated, you will realize, by adding the numbers and looking at the numbers reported on Spotrac, that the team likely informed the league they would be exercising the options as soon as the new year kicked in, and because of that the numbers we have been looking at on Spotrac for the last month have already figured this move in. It does still appear as an option on some sites as the language is no doubt written to give the Bills 5 days. But the reality is it has been done, and has been considered done by the league and Spotrac for some time now. There is no magical $15 mil available to us in the next 5 days from these moves. It also isn't really the breaking news the original tweeter would have people believe. It is, in fact, a nothing burger. Carry on.

For what it's worth, fix #2 has been implemented.

It works just like it's supposed to. It's not a reward for being good. It's a replacement tool for teams that lose good players. And the teams that are usually good tend to draft well, be coached well and so they have more good players year in and year out, which naturally loads their rosters with more players than they're able to keep. Bad teams tend to draft poorly, fail to develop and have inferior coaching with regular turnovers, which naturally leaves them trying to improve by competing for the best players that can't be kept by the good teams that developed them. I'd say it's more an indicator of the cause and effect of drafting, developing and coaching better than the competition.

I heard from a reliable source it will soon be named the "We Just Realized The Bills Only Own The Naming Rights For Two More Seasons So We're Waiting Until There's A New Stadium Or A new Lease Before We Commit Multi-Millions Stadium." Catchy ain't it?

So . . . Asymptote Stadium it is. I like it. It has that ring to the ears.

Yeah this is an idea that could work. I'm not saying it should, but it's not as far-fetched as some are thinking. In fact it's been done, albeit on a smaller scale that would be needed, in Ottawa. I don't even know what it's called now but it used to be the Civic Center. And basically the grandstand on the one side of the football field serves as the roof of the hockey arena. Or something like that. I was there once about 35 years ago but the memory does fade.

I'll do my best to cite everything. The author of this article is known only on this message board as Tuco. The article was originally published on this message board about 7 hours ago. Technically the cap is derived from the players percentage of all NFL revenue for a year. One caveat to that system is that the cap for a season is based on projected revenue for the season, which can wind up being higher or lower as the season plays out. So what really happens every year is they project the revenue for the season, come up with the cap number, then make an adjustment up or down to reflect the difference of projected revenue vs. actual revenue from the year before. This ensures the percentage the players get always equals the amount they're supposed to get per the CBA. The problem, as we all know, is the cap was set for 2020 using projected revenue for 2020. Then all Hell broke loose, and the actual revenue for 2020 wound up being much less than the projection. If nothing was done there would have to be a huge drop in the 2021 cap to make the correct adjustment. The CBA, however, specifies that in a case such as this, both sides should get together to agree on what to do. The above information is widely available and can be found by typing "NFL CBA 2020" into a Google search (6,980,000 results in .72 seconds). So they did, back in July. They didn't make any changes to the agreed percentage, they just agreed on how to make the adjustment starting in 2021. The league's initial proposal was to start the adjustment by dropping the cap $8 million in 2020, while making the cap floor $165 mil in 2021. The original proposal from the players was to spread the whole thing out for 10 years. The NFL wasn't real big on that idea. For one thing, NFL owners already paid the players more than their actual share for the 2020 season. And as businessmen they're not inclined to wait 10 years to recoup all that money. For another thing, not that probably either side cares, but doing so would actually penalize every young player coming into the league for the next 10 years because the current players didn't want to lose their fair share. I lost money in 2020 due to COVID because my company lost money. So did a lot of people all over the country. NFL players were trying to push their share of losses onto players who haven't started shaving yet. Anyway, the agreement was made that the players wouldn't give up any money in 2020. They would accept a cap floor of $175 million in 2021, with any amount beyond that cap floor that is required to be adjusted being spread out evenly for the next 3 years beyond that. The above information can be find through numerous news articles, mostly dated in late July of 2020, by typing "NFLPA agrees to $175 Million cap" into a Google search (31,000 results in .46 seconds). The part about the owners not wanting to wait 10 years to regain their losses is the author's opinion. Though it seems likely given that they refused to entertain the idea during the negotiation. Getting to your original question, yes, the owners have to use the $175 number (floor) as it was agreed to in a modified CBA. If revenues aren't as bad as they thought, the number can be higher by whatever amount the adjustment calls for it to be. Yes, they can go above that number too if they want, but if they do it would require a new agreement with the players. And you can rest assured if they find a way to do it it won't be by giving the players a higher percentage than they're already due. Meaning they will recoup the money they paid the players this year that was above and beyond their agreed to percentage. The information in the beginning of this paragraph can also be found with the above CBA Google search. The part about the owners not changing the percentage they will give to the players just to gain cap relief is the author's opinion. While I'm sure there are owners who won't be happy cutting players left and right, those owners knew what they were doing and that the cap floor was going to be $175 mil back in July when they voted and agreed to it. But all might not be lost. As a group, the owners are pretty good businessmen, and there's no doubt the current cap number was based on them covering their asses in a mostly worst case scenario. Put another way, they know better than to count their chickens before they hatch. This paragraph is also the author's opinion. Though he likes to think it's based on common sense. What that means is, it's possible, with the season going to 17 games, and if the anticipated new TV deals bring in more money starting in 2021, the cap may not be as low as $175 million. But as said, the owners no doubt moved forward back in July under the worst case scenario. Meaning they had to plan for not only huge losses, but the fact that they can't count on new TV money until it's actually there to be counted. So maybe just maybe it won't be the doomsday scenario. Although a cap of $200 million would still have the Saints trying to dump only $75 million instead of $100 million - oh well, that's their problem - it would be a welcome relief for most teams. This paragraph is mostly factual, with the information found through a combination of the above mentioned Google searches. The part about the owners having planned for the worst case scenario is subjective, and is the author's own opinion. Though he likes to think it's based on common sense. But there's a lot of ifs. Will the TV deals get done in time for their revenue projection to be part of the 2021 season? Will the COVID be considered under control enough they can project full stadiums, food stands and parking lots for 2021? They generally announce the official cap number early on because teams have to be under it by the first league day in early March. That's not a lot of time. This paragraph is subjective. Although there are news reports that the NFL expects to get at least one new TV agreement in place before the start of the 2021 season. The part about the cap being announced before the start of the season is factual, based on past practice and experience - and the need for teams to know what the cap is so they can abide by the CBA and be under it at that time. Thanks for reading. And for what it's worth, while the author has cited some reasons why the cap might not be as low as $175 million next year, the author doesn't feel all that rosy about next year's cap situation. A lot remains to be seen. And while it may well be that the cap doesn't go all the way down to $175, next year, the author doesn't think it will be $200 million either.

I expect a lot of restructuring too. But for teams that are $100 million over the cap, they will be cutting players left and right.

Technically the cap is derived from the players percentage of all NFL revenue for a year. One caveat to that system is that the cap for a season is based on projected revenue for the season, which can wind up being higher or lower as the season plays out. So what really happens every year is they project the revenue for the season, come up with the cap number, then make an adjustment up or down to reflect the difference of projected revenue vs. actual revenue from the year before. This ensures the percentage the players get always equals the amount they're supposed to get per the CBA. The problem, as we all know, is the cap was set for 2020 using projected revenue for 2020. Then all Hell broke loose, and the actual revenue for 2020 wound up being much less than the projection. If nothing was done there would have to be a huge drop in the 2021 cap to make the correct adjustment. The CBA, however, specifies that in a case such as this, both sides should get together to agree on what to do. So they did, back in July. They didn't make any changes to the agreed percentage, they just agreed on how to make the adjustment starting in 2021. The league's initial proposal was to start the adjustment by dropping the cap $8 million in 2020, while making the cap floor $165 mil in 2021. The original proposal from the players was to spread the whole thing out for 10 years. The NFL wasn't real big on that idea. For one thing, NFL owners already paid the players more than their actual share for the 2020 season. And as businessmen they're not inclined to wait 10 years to recoup all that money. For another thing, not that probably either side cares, but doing so would actually penalize every young player coming into the league for the next 10 years because the current players didn't want to lose their fair share. I lost money in 2020 due to COVID because my company lost money. So did a lot of people all over the country. NFL players were trying to push their share of losses onto players who haven't started shaving yet. Anyway, the agreement was made that the players wouldn't give up any money in 2020. They would accept a cap floor of $175 million in 2021, with any amount beyond that cap floor that is required to be adjusted being spread out evenly for the next 3 years beyond that. Getting to your original question, yes, the owners have to use the $175 number (floor) as it was agreed to in a modified CBA. If revenues aren't as bad as they thought, the number can be higher by whatever amount the adjustment calls for it to be. Yes, they can go above that number too if they want, but if they do it would require a new agreement with the players. And you can rest assured if they find a way to do it it won't be by giving the players a higher percentage than they're already due. Meaning they will recoup the money they paid the players this year that was above and beyond their agreed to percentage. While I'm sure there are owners who won't be happy cutting players left and right. Those owners knew what they were doing and that the cap floor was going to be $175 mil back in July when they voted and agreed to it. But all might not be lost. As a group, the owners are pretty good businessmen, and there's no doubt the current cap number was based on them covering their asses in a mostly worst case scenario. Put another way, they know better than to count their chickens before they hatch. What that means is, it's possible, with the season going to 17 games, and if the anticipated new TV deals bring in more money starting in 2021, the cap may not be as low as $175 million. But as said, the owners no doubt moved forward back in July under the worst case scenario. Meaning they had to plan for not only huge losses, but the fact that they can't count on new TV money until it's actually there to be counted. So maybe just maybe it won't be the doomsday scenario. Although a cap of $200 million would still have the Saints trying to dump only $75 million instead of $100 million - oh well, that's their problem - it would be a welcome relief for most teams. But there's a lot of ifs. Will the TV deals get done in time for their revenue projection to be part of the 2021 season? Will the COVID be considered under control enough they can project full stadiums, food stands and parking lots for 2021? They generally announce the official cap number early on because teams have to be under it by the first league day in early March. That's not a lot of time.

The Championship game against the Broncos in '92 (I think) reminds me a little of this past game against the Ravens. We all remember the early '90s Bills as having the high-powered K-Gun. But that game was a slugfest. It was 0-0 at the half. Finally the Bills scored their only touchdown on a pick 6, and went on to win 10-7. That's right, our high-powered offense scored 3 points in a championship game. Fortunately the Elway led Broncos weren't much better on offense that day. Our defense only gave up 7 and scored 7 to win and advance.

This. ^^^ Everybody remembers the PI call on Burroughs because it was the end of the game. But in close games every possession and drive counts. Bruce grabbed the front of his jersey and yanked him down so hard the ref imagined he had him by the facemask. Should have been a Bengals punt but instead it kept their drive alive and they wound up scoring. Worst call I've ever seen in a Bills game.

All the bars and restaurants that have to close at 10:00 PM in New York are definitely not hoping for an 8:15 start.

Interesting. I was able to go to XXV also, but I thought it was a fantastic event. Maybe my circumstances were a bit different. I won the lottery so me and my buddy were able to get out tickets for $150 each. And my buddy had a buddy who lived less than a mile from the stadium so we were able to stay at his house for free. And his buddy also had connections at one of those huge downtown clubs so we were able to get in (KC And The Sunshine Bad was playing LOL) without standing in line like so many others. But I thought the downtown party the night before was a riot, and there were many fans of both teams. The one thing that sticks out is most fans were wearing their blue jerseys so every time you would see a Giants #56 we would yell, "Hey yeah, Darryl Talley woohoo!" and of course they would puff their chest and say "This is an LT jersey man!" I really have a whole different take it seems than you. Interesting. But then we never did agree on much. Of course back then I was 27, buffaloes shaved in the side of my head and ready for anything that looked fun. Now I'm 57 and have no desire at all to go to another Super Bowl. But I feel for the young fans here in my home town. They've been getting excited over the last couple years, and I've been telling them just how great it will be if we ever get good again. And I tell them I hope they get to experience going to see our team in the big game at least once. And now here we are, all those good games this year nobody could attend. On the verge of our first home playoff game(s) in forever and nobody can attend. And uncertainty surrounding the attendance and atmosphere of the big game. It's a bummer for sure for these young guys who, like me, waited patiently for our team to get good again. Hopefully we can stay good for a bunch of years. EDIT: Although as I think back on it now, it really was just that one night before the game that I thought was full of jubilant fans. The rest of the time I suppose it really was just visiting a different city and doing whatever there is to do there. Still we thought it was cool going into Hooters and ordering wings, only to have the waitress tell us Ray Bentley was in the night before and he ate all his wings, bones and all. Just crunched them up and ate 'em up.

This is correct. A two way tie with KC we lose. A two way tie with Pitt we win. A three way tie with Pitt and KC we win on SOV as long as one of the KC losses is the Chargers. A four way tie would eliminate Baltimore first as Pitt beat them twice. So a 4 way tie is a 3 way tie.

Nice review. I don't even feel the slightest urge to nitpick. Well done.

A lot of people don't seem to realize, the deal has already been struck. There is no keeping it flat for a couple years. The CBA covers this scenario. It says in the event of catastrophic (me paraphrasing but whatever) decrease in revenues due to something like a Pandemic, both sides will work it out. And they did. But the players are still going to get the same percentage of revenue they were always going to get. And in the long run, that will be less for at least one year. Owners get less, players get less. This year's cap is based on this year's projected revenue, just like every year. But it was projected before the pandemic. Every year the cap is figured on projected revenue and then an adjustment is made to reflect any gains or shortfalls from the previous year in relation to its projection. So the huge shortfall in revenue this year will be reflected in next year's cap. The players could have agreed to lower this year's cap, but they weren't interested, so they kicked the can. The agreement was next year's cap will be no lower than $175 million, even if it's supposed to be less than that (the owners were pushing for $165M because they know how much they're losing). And any amount it's supposed to be below $175 will be absorbed by reducing the remaining shortfall from the total cap in the subsequent years. I'm not just making this number up. It was agreed to via an amended CBA back in September. Could they just amend the CBA again? Sure. But don't think for a moment the owners are going to give a bigger percentage away. And the serious loss of revenue this year is going to be reflected in next year's $175 million cap. That cap has already been negotiated. The only real issue is how much it will affect the cap in the years after that.

The ESPN one is up and running now. http://www.espn.com/nfl/playoffs/machine

That rule doesn't apply to week 17. Nor does the rule allowing networks to protect certain games from flexing. The NFL has unilateral decision making in scheduling week 17, all on only 6 days notice.