mjt328 Posted January 26, 2014 Author Share Posted January 26, 2014 You make some good points, so I just want to hit on this last one. It's funny you mention these teams, since each of them let their most important free agent(s) walk out the door this past offseason. New England let Welker go, Pittsburgh didn't re-sign Wallace, Baltimore traded Boldin for a 6th rd pick and didn't re-sign Cary Williams, New Orleans let their LT defect to Chicago, and Green Bay lost Greg Jennings to a division rival. All had plenty of cap space... Now, I'm not saying this proves anything, just that I think it speaks to the idea of correctly determining value over simply re-signing guys because you have the money and cap space to do so. Most of those teams actually were in pretty bad salary cap trouble. Pittsburgh had to decide between Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown. They chose wisely. Baltimore's biggest free agent was Joe Flacco. Combining his massive contract and Ray Rice (from the year before), left them in a position where they simply couldn't afford an aging possession receiver. New Orleans brought back Marques Colston, and of course had the looming contract of Jimmy Graham coming up this year. With Jordy Nelson, James Jones and Randall Cobb, Green Bay didn't need Jennings and they knew it. They played most of 2012 without him anyway. New England is (as usual), the exception to the rule. I think they knew Welker was easily replaceable. They decided to go with a younger Danny Amendola. He got hurt, but Julian Edelman filled in nice this year. The big losses to New England's offense were Gronk and Hernandez. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJasper Probincrux III Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I haven't studied it fully.....but I don't tend to think so. Looking at cap space for teams in 2013..... (Cap space is a better indicator of spending IMO as it shows a greater spend over the last couple of seasons rather than just the 2013 season) Least cap space is the Rams, Giants then Saints. Broncos, Seahawks, Patriots & 49ers are 11th, 15th, 13th & 16th respectively with cap space. There looks to be a little bit of correlation at the bottom end with the Browns, Jags, Bills, Dolphins & Eagles all having large cap space...... The Eagles have done this for years and at the end of the season, before the league year rolls over, they extend contracts of the players they want to keep and stick the biggest hit into the current year that is about to expire. They then have a big pile of cap space the following year. The Eagles for years have signed basically whomever they wanted in Free Agency, haven't had a problem with player defections and have been competitive save one year. If I could pluck 1 FO person from any team in the league it would be the Eagles cap guy. They do it better than anyone year after year. You'll see 2 Eagles WRs in Free Agency this year - 1. Riley Cooper who the Eagles won't pay big money after his off-field nonsense and who probably wants to get out of Dodge as much as anything. 2. Jeremy Maclin - coming off a torn ACL I'd bet the Eagles offered him a lowball extension that he declined to roll the dice as a FA. I'd be surprised if he gets big bank from anywhere and he'll probably end up staying with the Eagles on a low-risk Eagles friendly contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Russ tries to follow a "cash to the cap" type of philosophy. However, it is kind of like the Yankees and the $189M. It is a target and not and edict. My guess is that the Bills will take care of some their own and then try to fill a couple of starting spots in free agency. RT, LB, TE & LG are a few spots to keep an eye on in free agency. I suspect that it will be like last year with Lawson type signings. Ultimately, Russ says yes or no to every decision. Overdorf negotiates to a point that they seek approval from Russ. Before last year that was a decision made between Russ and Littman. now that Littman's power has been minimized this team will continue heading in the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dibs Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 The Eagles have done this for years and at the end of the season, before the league year rolls over, they extend contracts of the players they want to keep and stick the biggest hit into the current year that is about to expire. They then have a big pile of cap space the following year. The Eagles for years have signed basically whomever they wanted in Free Agency, haven't had a problem with player defections and have been competitive save one year. If I could pluck 1 FO person from any team in the league it would be the Eagles cap guy. They do it better than anyone year after year. You'll see 2 Eagles WRs in Free Agency this year - 1. Riley Cooper who the Eagles won't pay big money after his off-field nonsense and who probably wants to get out of Dodge as much as anything. 2. Jeremy Maclin - coming off a torn ACL I'd bet the Eagles offered him a lowball extension that he declined to roll the dice as a FA. I'd be surprised if he gets big bank from anywhere and he'll probably end up staying with the Eagles on a low-risk Eagles friendly contract. I'm not saying you are wrong(regards to Eagles)......and it certainly seems to have been a very smart way to manage the cap. I think however that perhaps with the new rollover rules, it has now become unnecessary. With the Eagles having nearly 18m in cap space at this point, it will be interesting to follow what they do over the next couple of months(before the new NFL year starts) to see if they continue to follow the model that you have laid out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thebandit27 Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 Russ tries to follow a "cash to the cap" type of philosophy. However, it is kind of like the Yankees and the $189M. It is a target and not and edict. My guess is that the Bills will take care of some their own and then try to fill a couple of starting spots in free agency. RT, LB, TE & LG are a few spots to keep an eye on in free agency. I suspect that it will be like last year with Lawson type signings. Ultimately, Russ says yes or no to every decision. Overdorf negotiates to a point that they seek approval from Russ. Before last year that was a decision made between Russ and Littman. now that Littman's power has been minimized this team will continue heading in the right direction. I'll just add one caveat: if Whaley puts his foot down and tells Russ he needs a guy, Russ is very likely to acquiesce...he trusts the Dougs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirby Jackson Posted January 26, 2014 Share Posted January 26, 2014 I'll just add one caveat: if Whaley puts his foot down and tells Russ he needs a guy, Russ is very likely to acquiesce...he trusts the Dougs. You make a good point. Whaley & company already have their targets & a pretty good idea of what it will take to land them. The plan becomes fluid with a bunch of "if x happens then we do y" types of scenarios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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