How Jairus Byrd blew up the Saints' salary cap

[Bills Fan since '64]

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/new-orleans-saints-salary-cap/

[PromoTheRobot]

<crickets>

[The Wiz]

All I can say is thank you to Whaley for signing AW and letting Byrd walk.

[K-9]

http://grantland.com...nts-salary-cap/

 

An abject lesson in cap management. We mock Overdorf a lot around here, but he's a damned good capologist with good insight into the fluidity involved. He's gotta constantly be looking several years down the road at any potential ramifications. Not an easy job. Let's face it, free agency in a capped salary structure makes it impossible to keep everybody. We should remember that when we get all pissed off about losing a player we demand keeping at any cost.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[Prickly Pete]

Byrd is so far back in the rear view mirror, that I can't see him anymore.

They didn't miss him at all, really. Surely not at the price he wanted.

[NoSaint]

 

 

An abject lesson in cap management. We mock Overdorf a lot around here, but he's a damned good capologist with good insight into the fluidity involved. He's gotta constantly be looking several years down the road at any potential ramifications. Not an easy job. Let's face it, free agency in a capped salary structure makes it impossible to keep everybody. We should remember that when we get all pissed off about losing a player we demand keeping at any cost.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The only thing keeping the argument from landing is that we are consistently low - his lack of getting into cap hell would be more impressive if he were willing to be more aggressive too.

[K-9]

The only thing keeping the argument from landing is that we are consistently low - his lack of getting into cap hell would be more impressive if he were willing to be more aggressive too.

 

So the only way to tell if a team is good at cap management is to have them right up against it all the time? I don't want to digress into a "Bills are cheap" argument here, but spending to the cap isn't in itself a recipe for success. In fact, far from it. There are teams far better than us with a more cap room than we have at the moment. Look at some of the teams here:

 

http://www.spotrac.com/cap-tracker/nfl/

 

Teams, especially building teams with young star players, have to keep an eye towards future seasons and re-signing those players, while at the same time retaining some flexibility for other player acquisitions. That takes discipline, commitment, and planning. I'll let others argue we're just "cheap" but there's a method to the madness and I think we'll appreciate that in the very near future with so many key players coming up over the next few years at some high-dollar positions to boot.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[NoSaint]

 

 

So the only way to tell if a team is good at cap management is to have them right up against it all the time? I don't want to digress into a "Bills are cheap" argument here, but spending to the cap isn't in itself a recipe for success. In fact, far from it. There are teams far better than us with a more cap room than we have at the moment. Look at some of the teams here:

 

http://www.spotrac.com/cap-tracker/nfl/

 

Teams, especially building teams with young star players, have to keep an eye towards future seasons and re-signing those players, while at the same time retaining some flexibility for other player acquisitions. That takes discipline, commitment, and planning. I'll let others argue we're just "cheap" but there's a method to the madness and I think we'll appreciate that in the very near future with so many key players coming up over the next few years at some high-dollar positions to boot.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

I didn't say right to the penny every year. Just that it's less impressive if never playing at the edge. He may prove great at that at some point but we haven't seen him ace the advanced level courses yet.

[Captain Hindsight]

Surprising considering Mickey Loomis is more a cap guy as GM anyway.

 

Good article on how a salary cap is structured

[NoSaint]

Surprising considering Mickey Loomis is more a cap guy as GM anyway.

 

Good article on how a salary cap is structured

 

But I think there's a plan there still - both in structure tweaking as well as players that aren't expected to be on the roster. The Byrd and gallette numbers will change drastically, I don't think Colston is in the plans for next year unless he drastically reduces his numbers. The jahri/Grubbs pairing likely isn't planned to survive.

 

For several years they've projected to be the worst cap in the league and are still keeping core players and bringing in pieces. There will be change, but Byrd wasn't signed without a plan in place

Edited December 13, 2014 by NoSaint

[justnzane]

I'd argue that paying Brees 26 million and Junior Galette as the highest paid OLB in the game at 15 million is even more damning than Byrd's 10 million. Nonetheless, their GM needs to be subjected to voodoo by a vengeful fan of la fleur de lis.

[Captain Hindsight]

But I think there's a plan there still - both in structure tweaking as well as players that aren't expected to be on the roster. The Byrd and gallette numbers will change drastically, I don't think Colston is in the plans for next year unless he drastically reduces his numbers. The jahri/Grubbs pairing likely isn't planned to survive.

 

For several years they've projected to be the worst cap in the league and are still keeping core players and bringing in pieces. There will be change, but Byrd wasn't signed without a plan in place

I think the plan was go big. Brees is getting up there so they swung big. The Ravens did it a few years ago when they won the Super Bowl. They had to get rid of a lot of guys the following year but it worked

[K-9]

I didn't say right to the penny every year. Just that it's less impressive if never playing at the edge. He may prove great at that at some point but we haven't seen him ace the advanced level courses yet.

 

Notice who else never plays at the edge? Playing at the edge has nothing to do with how impressive it is, imo. Indeed, I think it goes to show how short-sighted some teams are when it's a long-vision proposition and always has been.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[NoSaint]

I'd argue that paying Brees 26 million and Junior Galette as the highest paid OLB in the game at 15 million is even more damning than Byrd's 10 million. Nonetheless, their GM needs to be subjected to voodoo by a vengeful fan of la fleur de lis.

 

Cap hit in a single year and average pay are two very different things

 

I think the plan was go big. Brees is getting up there so they swung big. The Ravens did it a few years ago when they won the Super Bowl. They had to get rid of a lot of guys the following year but it worked

 

Yea, but the going big is for 2-3 more years. Hence building big reductions into next years hits in multiple contracts.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

My takeaway from this article is that the Saints are really aggressive and much more advanced than us at managing the cap. Same with a lot of other teams.

 

What the Saints are doing with Byrd's salary-- whether you agree with it or not from a risk perspective--it's pretty clever, and probably something that didn't even cross the Bills' minds.

[K-9]

My takeaway from this article is that the Saints are really aggressive and much more advanced than us at managing the cap. Same with a lot of other teams.

 

What the Saints are doing with Byrd's salary-- whether you agree with it or not from a risk perspective--it's pretty clever, and probably something that didn't even cross the Bills' minds.

 

Yes, if we were only as clever as the Saints, we'd have so much more flexibility in addressing Hughes, Dareus, Glenn, and Gilmore (the 4 most expensive positions outside of QB) AND be able to afford key FA acquisitions moving forward.

 

GO BILLS!!!

[peterpan]

they have the top two highest paid Guards in the league.

 

I hope they cut one or two and they promptly sign with us :-)

 

This could be a great year for FA Guards!

[jamiezzz]

I wish we had a chance at Brees!

[mannc]

It's a very good article, and certainly makes me re-consider my strongly held (at the time) belief that the Bills should do what it took to keep Byrd. Whatever our FO's failings, at least we are not in cap purgatory.

 

Barnwell did another one of these articles at the beginning of the year regarding how the Steelers were also in cap hell, that their roster was rotten with dead wood, and that there was no easy way to fix it. I guess a franchise QB (and some fast WRs) can solve all kinds of problems.

[Miyagi-Do Karate]

It's a very good article, and certainly makes me re-consider my strongly held (at the time) belief that the Bills should do what it took to keep Byrd. Whatever our FO's failings, at least we are not in cap purgatory.

 

Barnwell did another one of these articles at the beginning of the year regarding how the Steelers were also in cap hell, that their roster was rotten with dead wood, and that there was no easy way to fix it. I guess a franchise QB (and some fast WRs) can solve all kinds of problems.

 

IMO, this is what is key, and permits teams like the Saints and Steelers to be so aggressive with the cap, while hedging the risk of having to make severe cuts every so often.

 

If I have Drew Brees, I can kick the can down the road, and I can get by with shaky WR's and rookie WR's for a year here or there.

 

Yes, if we were only as clever as the Saints, we'd have so much more flexibility in addressing Hughes, Dareus, Glenn, and Gilmore (the 4 most expensive positions outside of QB) AND be able to afford key FA acquisitions moving forward.

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

Well, if we figure out a way to re-sign even two of those guys, my hat will go off to the Bills. But we will all know what is likely to happen-- they're probably all going to walk.