NFL should institute a 1 time contract buyout for teams to get under the cap this year

[NewEra]

40 minutes ago, Jobot said:

 

Jets - not worried about

Pats - need more than just a qb to fix their offense, they'll hang around, but are only a realistic threat if Buffalo regresses.

Fins - we've clearly got their number and matchup incredibly against them... Maybe it's competitive if Watson somehow moves to Miami, but it would cost Miami a boatload to pull that off..

Lol....we aren’t just worried about our division anymore.  We’re shooting much higher.  You should be too

[billsfan89]

The better solution is to borrow from future cap increases to smooth out the cap to keep it at around 195 to 205 which would give teams 20-30 million more to work with. Or do what the NBA did and keep the cap as it normally would have been but have the players keep a percentage of their pay in escrow and then at the end of the season the escrow gets either paid back to the players or the owners depending on how the league does revenue wise. It would be the most sensible mechanism. 

[frostbitmic]

17 minutes ago, BigdaddyinOrlando said:

The next CBA should have a clause in it where your QB contract only counts half of the actual cap number against the cap. That position is so vital to have and yet it absolutely cripples a team in keep other players on it. It would allow you to keep more players and pay more of the middle tier players that make up most of the team and yet are switched out or cut when they are due for a contract raise. Sorta like the Larry Bird rule the NBA had. Just a thought 

Why ? ... You lay in the bed you make. If you want to spend half of your cap on one player that is your choosing.

[Slippery Rubber Mats]

28 minutes ago, NewEra said:

Lol....we aren’t just worried about our division anymore.  We’re shooting much higher.  You should be too

 

I don't understand this thinking. Everything starts with winning within your division.

[RangerDave]

Who do you think the Bills would use this one-time buyout on?  How would it help us?

 

What players do you think other teams would/should use it on?

[TheFunPolice]

7 minutes ago, RangerDave said:

Who do you think the Bills would use this one-time buyout on?  How would it help us?

 

What players do you think other teams would/should use it on?

 

For the Bills, I would say Addison, Morse or Star. We don't have a ton of terrible contracts, though, as I look through it. 

 

For other NFL players, guys like Matt Ryan (49 million in dead cap) come to mind. 

 

 

[Yobogoya!]

1 hour ago, Billl said:

I like the idea, but it would completely undermine the owners’ rationale for the reduced salary cap.  If they are cash poor due to COVID restrictions, how do they afford buyouts?

 

This is my question. Like, would a team such as the Raiders even have the liquid capital to be able to buy out one of their most expensive contracts right now?

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Yobogoya!

[NewEra]

1 hour ago, Tuel Time said:

 

I don't understand this thinking. Everything starts with winning within your division.

We’re talking about salary cap in this situation.....I’m not worried about the cap situation in Miami, NY and NE as much as I’m worried about the cap situation in KC.  This offseason, Beane and McD are (hopefully) going to be focused on how we can beat the chiefs.  If we aren’t focused on beating them, we’ll suffer the same result.  We HAVE a VERY good team.  That isn’t going to change.  We’re going to be competing for the division that we swept this season.  If we want to be competing for the Lombardi, we better set our offseason sights on the chiefs.

[Billl]

28 minutes ago, Yobogoya! said:

 

This is my question. Like, would a team such as the Raiders even have the liquid capital to be able to buy out one of their most expensive contracts right now?

 

If they can, then there’s no need to suppress the cap in the first place.

[Nextmanup]

2 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

I think the NFL should consider an NHL style buyout that each team could use to cancel 1 contract in terms of cap ramifications this offseason, especially since the cap is going to all of a sudden dip unexpectedly. Many teams are stuck with contracts that they cannot get rid of, and nobody could have planned for the cap to go down at all, let alone by a significant amount.

 

You buyout the player's contract, thereby immediately making him a free agent. To do so, you pay him a lump sum that is some % of his remaining deal. None of that lump sum counts against your cap, and his contract comes off your cap with no penalty. This has to be done in March of this year, let's say. That's the only window, and it's a 1-time pandemic related measure. 

 

Players get paid, teams can get out from under crazy contracts that were signed in a pre-COVID era, and GMs don't have to cut half their team because getting rid of a Matt Ryan contract, for example, would carry so much dead cap that they could barely field a team. 

 

Also, it must be a player currently on your squad. No doing this to wipe dead cap from previous cuts. And no team has to do it; it's just an option. 

If it is generally agreed that Covid has adversely impacted pretty much all the teams in the league in the same way, and if we can agree that this is a force majeure type of situation likely not to be repeated....then why not do something like this?

 

A few teams who are in great cap situations might object, but I would think most would be in support of such a measure. 

 

You are basically decreasing the punitive cap aspect the pandemic has imposed on most of the teams in the league.

 

Why should that be a bad thing?

 

 

[dpberr]

That's quite a reasonable idea.  I like it.  

[First Round Bust]

yeah only thing is who ?  Okposo or Skinner ?

[Buffalo_Stampede]

Owners would love it but the players would never agree to it without getting something. 

[boater]

3 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

You buyout the player's contract

Unless there are buyout provisions (doubtful) in the original contract, you can't force a player to accept a buyout.

 

What player would accept a buyout that one way or another leads to reduced pay?

 

The only real way out of an ugly contract is to trade or cut a player. And that is only partially successful.

 

It's gonna be ugly.

[Punching Bag]

2 hours ago, BigdaddyinOrlando said:

The next CBA should have a clause in it where your QB contract only counts half of the actual cap number against the cap. That position is so vital to have and yet it absolutely cripples a team in keep other players on it. It would allow you to keep more players and pay more of the middle tier players that make up most of the team and yet are switched out or cut when they are due for a contract raise. Sorta like the Larry Bird rule the NBA had. Just a thought 

 

It would result in QBs agents advising QBs to hold out until QBs got raise.

[Hapless Bills Fan]

4 hours ago, TheFunPolice said:

I think the NFL should consider an NHL style buyout that each team could use to cancel 1 contract in terms of cap ramifications this offseason, especially since the cap is going to all of a sudden dip unexpectedly. Many teams are stuck with contracts that they cannot get rid of, and nobody could have planned for the cap to go down at all, let alone by a significant amount.

 

You buyout the player's contract, thereby immediately making him a free agent. To do so, you pay him a lump sum that is some % of his remaining deal. None of that lump sum counts against your cap, and his contract comes off your cap with no penalty. This has to be done in March of this year, let's say. That's the only window, and it's a 1-time pandemic related measure. 

 

Players get paid, teams can get out from under crazy contracts that were signed in a pre-COVID era, and GMs don't have to cut half their team because getting rid of a Matt Ryan contract, for example, would carry so much dead cap that they could barely field a team. 

 

Also, it must be a player currently on your squad. No doing this to wipe dead cap from previous cuts. And no team has to do it; it's just an option. 

 

Mmmmm. 

 

Every year, a player who signed a legally binding document with a team blossoms during the term of that contract.  Meanwhile, other players who just signed contracts at that position are getting paid way above Mr Blossom's current value, and his agents/fans start talking about how he's underpaid and can/should/will demand a new contract.

 

My take on that is you signed a legally binding document, live up to it. 

 

I don't see why a team should get to void a legally binding document by giving a player a percentage of his remaining deal.  Players sign specific contracts for a myriad of reasons, including protection from injury, career development etc.  Why should the team be given a free pass out of it, unless you also want to give the players a free pass out of it?

[Punching Bag]

1 hour ago, boater said:

Unless there are buyout provisions (doubtful) in the original contract, you can't force a player to accept a buyout.

 

What player would accept a buyout that one way or another leads to reduced pay?

 

The only real way out of an ugly contract is to trade or cut a player. And that is only partially successful.

 

It's gonna be ugly.

 

You cannot force a player to do it but often it is in a player's best interest.

Sometimes a player has a bad year and the market value for the player on next contract is weak.

Sometimes a player will accept a pay cut for more money up front maybe with incentives.

Sometimes a player is near end of career and would rather take a pay cut rather than move and adjust to a new team.

There is not "only one way".

 

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/bills-restructure-defensive-tackle-star-lotuleleis-contract-ahead-of-2020-offseason/

Quote

The Buffalo Bills are restructuring one of their starter's contracts heading into this offseason, as they begin to get their finances in order before attacking free agency. According to ESPN's Field Yates, the Bills and starting defensive tackle Star Lotulelei have agreed to a restructured contract for the final three years of his deal. For 2020, Lotulelei's base salary drops by $1.75 million but becomes fully guaranteed. Additionally, $2.5 million in injury guarantees for 2021 was added.

 

 

https://www.buffalorumblings.com/2018/3/21/17148134/richie-incognito-agrees-to-pay-cut-to-save-buffalo-bills-cap-space-his-job-contract-restructure

Quote

Earlier this offseason, the Buffalo Bills approached veteran guard Richie Incognito about taking a pay cut for the 2018 season. In order to save his roster spot, that’s exactly what Incognito did, agreeing to $1.675 million reduction according to ESPN’s Field Yates

 

Buffalo gave him a million bucks in a bonus now and cut his 2018 salary paid during the season by $2.675 million. The bonus is a gesture by Buffalo to help show Incognito they want him here even while lowering his pay for the future. It will lower his cap hit by the aforementioned $1.675 million this season in the final year of his deal.

 

[Jobot]

3 hours ago, NewEra said:

Lol....we aren’t just worried about our division anymore.  We’re shooting much higher.  You should be too

 

Totally. The  comment I responded to was concerned about winning the division.

[NewEra]

12 minutes ago, Jobot said:

 

Totally. The  comment I responded to was concerned about winning the division.

Copy that.  My apologies 

[RangerDave]

35 minutes ago, Limeaid said:

You cannot force a player to do it but often it is in a player's best interest.

Sometimes a player has a bad year and the market value for the player on next contract is weak.

Sometimes a player will accept a pay cut for more money up front maybe with incentives.

Sometimes a player is near end of career and would rather take a pay cut rather than move and adjust to a new team.

There is not "only one way".

What if, instead of "buying out" a player's contract, whereby the player still gets a percentage of his contract money, the league changed the cap rules?  Can they say that each team can cut one player, but that contract would not be included in the dead cap hit.  That would amount the the same situation of ridding a team of one bad contract, like proposed by OP, but the player would only get whatever is left of his guaranteed contract.  Would that be allowed under CBA rules?  Would that be better or worse for the player than being "bought out" of his contract?