FA Trouble? Cap reality check...

[BennyVW]

A lot of thought has been going around recently concerning the signing of Free agents. As this is the dead part of the season its normal, but what will not be normal is when march 3rd comes around very few players will be signed.

Everyone has heard about the CBA, and some are split on whether we should have a cap or not...I'm not trying to get into that. What i will try to tell you is the reality of how hard it will be to sign anybody....

If the CBA is not extended then all NFL clubs must abide by these rules until an agreement is met...
1. Signing bonuses can only be spread over 4 years . Now this may seem minor, but think about it for a second. Before if a player signed a 6 year deal with 15 mil guaranteed then the Signing bonus would count 2.5 mil a year. 2.5 plus his salary would make the cap number. But if you tried to do the same contract now the SB will be spread over the first 4 years. Meaning 3.75 mil a year. Then 3.75 plus the salry is the cap number. The end result is that the same contract eats up an extra 1.25 million dollars a year...That means your team cant use that money to get another player....
2. Incentives are guaranteed Before there were 2 types of incentives. Likely to be earned, and unlikely to be earned. LTBE incentives count against the cap for the current year, at the end of the year if they are not met the club receives extra cap room in the amount of the incentive. NLTBE incentives do not count against the cap unless they are triggered.... At least thats how it used to be... Now all incentives are guaranteed and are part of the players cap number. So that 6 year 15 mill contract had a million dollar superbowl incentive. It is considered nltbe casue the Fins were not in the SB. So now that 1 mil will count on that cap number bringing it up to 4.75 million, plus the players salary....


Wow...this sucks...well it gets worse.

3. 30% rule Contracts must abide by the 30% increase rule. Formerly it just applied to salaries..but now all guaranteed money is included...like incentives, and bonuses...Thus you cant put big bonuses in contracts cause they will increase the value more than 30% from one year to the next...Will ths ever end....Nope!

4. No June 1st rule Previously if you cut a vet their contract "accelerates" and you are charged what is left from their signing bonus. Previously you could help yourself by cutting them after june 1st. Then you had the option of spreading the bonus over 2 years instead of 1. This gave teams that extra room they needed to finish off all their contracts....Well that rule no longer applies....All signing bonuses will now be accelerated to the current year with no exceptions...

So its hard enough to sign somebody, but now you cant cut people to afford them....WHEN WILL IT END!!!!

5. 2 FA seasons? Players and clubs will become hesitant because of all these new rules. If a player signs early its possible that if the CBA gets extended they will lose a lot of money cause all these restrictions will no longer apply. Players who wait could gamble and really cash in later. Especially cause a New cba will raise the caps for all teams an additional 5-8 million above the projection of 92 mil...meaning a 15 mil cap increase from last year!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thus: Very few big names will sign until the new CBA is put into effect, or signs show that it will not be extended...

Wow..Ok you can breathe now...Just try to forget that signing a player will incur almost double the cap charge and you will be fine.... Oh no!!! i still remember!

TAGS!!! GENE!!! HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!
__________________

[trayphin]

Nice work. Some really good info here. They need to reach an agreement quick.

[JG718]

Looks bleak

[FinFrenzy]

Can't a club renogotiate a deal?

Or just sign up for 1 year with an option in the contract for another year? I think most club capologists will find contractual ways around this...IMO the problem would stem if nothing changes after this year then the clubs wouldn't take the option.

[BennyVW]

Originally Posted by FinFrenzy

Can't a club renogotiate a deal?

Or just sign up for 1 year with an option in the contract for another year? I think most club capologists will find contractual ways around this...IMO the problem would stem if nothing changes after this year then the clubs wouldn't take the option.

Its hard enough just to sign a new player...renegotiations are the least of the concern....

[BALLS DEEP]

Originally Posted by hdjetta6316

A lot of thought has been going around recently concerning the signing of Free agents. As this is the dead part of the season its normal, but what will not be normal is when march 3rd comes around very few players will be signed.

Everyone has heard about the CBA, and some are split on whether we should have a cap or not...I'm not trying to get into that. What i will try to tell you is the reality of how hard it will be to sign anybody....

If the CBA is not extended then all NFL clubs must abide by these rules until an agreement is met...
1. Signing bonuses can only be spread over 4 years . Now this may seem minor, but think about it for a second. Before if a player signed a 6 year deal with 15 mil guaranteed then the Signing bonus would count 2.5 mil a year. 2.5 plus his salary would make the cap number. But if you tried to do the same contract now the SB will be spread over the first 4 years. Meaning 3.75 mil a year. Then 3.75 plus the salry is the cap number. The end result is that the same contract eats up an extra 1.25 million dollars a year...That means your team cant use that money to get another player....
2. Incentives are guaranteed Before there were 2 types of incentives. Likely to be earned, and unlikely to be earned. LTBE incentives count against the cap for the current year, at the end of the year if they are not met the club receives extra cap room in the amount of the incentive. NLTBE incentives do not count against the cap unless they are triggered.... At least thats how it used to be... Now all incentives are guaranteed and are part of the players cap number. So that 6 year 15 mill contract had a million dollar superbowl incentive. It is considered nltbe casue the Fins were not in the SB. So now that 1 mil will count on that cap number bringing it up to 4.75 million, plus the players salary....


Wow...this sucks...well it gets worse.

3. 30% rule Contracts must abide by the 30% increase rule. Formerly it just applied to salaries..but now all guaranteed money is included...like incentives, and bonuses...Thus you cant put big bonuses in contracts cause they will increase the value more than 30% from one year to the next...Will ths ever end....Nope!

4. No June 1st rule Previously if you cut a vet their contract "accelerates" and you are charged what is left from their signing bonus. Previously you could help yourself by cutting them after june 1st. Then you had the option of spreading the bonus over 2 years instead of 1. This gave teams that extra room they needed to finish off all their contracts....Well that rule no longer applies....All signing bonuses will now be accelerated to the current year with no exceptions...

So its hard enough to sign somebody, but now you cant cut people to afford them....WHEN WILL IT END!!!!

5. 2 FA seasons? Players and clubs will become hesitant because of all these new rules. If a player signs early its possible that if the CBA gets extended they will lose a lot of money cause all these restrictions will no longer apply. Players who wait could gamble and really cash in later. Especially cause a New cba will raise the caps for all teams an additional 5-8 million above the projection of 92 mil...meaning a 15 mil cap increase from last year!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thus: Very few big names will sign until the new CBA is put into effect, or signs show that it will not be extended...

Wow..Ok you can breathe now...Just try to forget that signing a player will incur almost double the cap charge and you will be fine.... Oh no!!! i still remember!

TAGS!!! GENE!!! HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!
__________________

I'm so dizzy I'm going to :barf:.

[PhinsPhan]

all this says to me is players are likely to earn less. I can't see how Gene thinks this will benefit his players.

Won't be as willing to hand out a big contract if it will be impossible to cut them. Also the fact you cant ammortize the signing bonus over more than 4years will make some contracts simply unaffordable, finally incentives that are all LTBE.

[dolphan117]

Are the owners realy dumb enough to let this happen?

[PhinFan8589]

It sucks because the NFL off-season is so awesome the way it is. All the other major sports have huge flaws. Baseball with teams like the Yankees dominating salary, or in Basketball with guranteed contracts and most teams just making trades to clear cap space. The Cap has worked great, the Owners are idiots if we go uncapped in 07!

[FRESHNESS]

Great Post, bye the way. I think that the real losers here are the Free Agents themselves. If no extention is found, the best of 2006 will be those teams who have unselfish players making tons of cash that are cool with renegotiating as well as the teams who already have a stable environment in place.

[BennyVW]

Originally Posted by FRESHNESS

Great Post, bye the way. I think that the real losers here are the Free Agents themselves. If no extention is found, the best of 2006 will be those teams who have unselfish players making tons of cash that are cool with renegotiating as well as the teams who already have a stable environment in place.

Thanks,

Definatly...if i was a player in the NFL this is the one year that i would not want to be a FA...

[miamiron]

Originally Posted by hdjetta6316

A lot of thought has been going around recently concerning the signing of Free agents. As this is the dead part of the season its normal, but what will not be normal is when march 3rd comes around very few players will be signed.

Everyone has heard about the CBA, and some are split on whether we should have a cap or not...I'm not trying to get into that. What i will try to tell you is the reality of how hard it will be to sign anybody....

If the CBA is not extended then all NFL clubs must abide by these rules until an agreement is met...
1. Signing bonuses can only be spread over 4 years . Now this may seem minor, but think about it for a second. Before if a player signed a 6 year deal with 15 mil guaranteed then the Signing bonus would count 2.5 mil a year. 2.5 plus his salary would make the cap number. But if you tried to do the same contract now the SB will be spread over the first 4 years. Meaning 3.75 mil a year. Then 3.75 plus the salry is the cap number. The end result is that the same contract eats up an extra 1.25 million dollars a year...That means your team cant use that money to get another player....
2. Incentives are guaranteed Before there were 2 types of incentives. Likely to be earned, and unlikely to be earned. LTBE incentives count against the cap for the current year, at the end of the year if they are not met the club receives extra cap room in the amount of the incentive. NLTBE incentives do not count against the cap unless they are triggered.... At least thats how it used to be... Now all incentives are guaranteed and are part of the players cap number. So that 6 year 15 mill contract had a million dollar superbowl incentive. It is considered nltbe casue the Fins were not in the SB. So now that 1 mil will count on that cap number bringing it up to 4.75 million, plus the players salary....


Wow...this sucks...well it gets worse.

3. 30% rule Contracts must abide by the 30% increase rule. Formerly it just applied to salaries..but now all guaranteed money is included...like incentives, and bonuses...Thus you cant put big bonuses in contracts cause they will increase the value more than 30% from one year to the next...Will ths ever end....Nope!

4. No June 1st rule Previously if you cut a vet their contract "accelerates" and you are charged what is left from their signing bonus. Previously you could help yourself by cutting them after june 1st. Then you had the option of spreading the bonus over 2 years instead of 1. This gave teams that extra room they needed to finish off all their contracts....Well that rule no longer applies....All signing bonuses will now be accelerated to the current year with no exceptions...

So its hard enough to sign somebody, but now you cant cut people to afford them....WHEN WILL IT END!!!!

5. 2 FA seasons? Players and clubs will become hesitant because of all these new rules. If a player signs early its possible that if the CBA gets extended they will lose a lot of money cause all these restrictions will no longer apply. Players who wait could gamble and really cash in later. Especially cause a New cba will raise the caps for all teams an additional 5-8 million above the projection of 92 mil...meaning a 15 mil cap increase from last year!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
Thus: Very few big names will sign until the new CBA is put into effect, or signs show that it will not be extended...

Wow..Ok you can breathe now...Just try to forget that signing a player will incur almost double the cap charge and you will be fine.... Oh no!!! i still remember!

TAGS!!! GENE!!! HURRY UP ALREADY!!!!!
__________________

GREAT POST...THANK YOU... VERY INTERESTING!!!

MIAMIRON

[Specialk0832]

thank you for the info buddy..... great info

[Scuba Steve 13]

great info ...Thanks

[rod557]

:mad: Great info helps alot Thanks.