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Salary Cap


Russh29

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Can anyone explain to me (in simple terms please), if the NFL has a hard salary cap (which to my mind means you cannot go over that number) how it is that (according to overthecap.com) there are 8 teams that are over the salary cap ?

Some (Saints, Packers particularly) are significantly over the cap ($74m and $40m respectively).

Am I misunderstanding the term “hard cap”, and what are the penalties teams face for breaching the cap ?

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5 minutes ago, Russh29 said:

Can anyone explain to me (in simple terms please), if the NFL has a hard salary cap (which to my mind means you cannot go over that number) how it is that (according to overthecap.com) there are 8 teams that are over the salary cap ?

Some (Saints, Packers particularly) are significantly over the cap ($74m and $40m respectively).

Am I misunderstanding the term “hard cap”, and what are the penalties teams face for breaching the cap ?

The NFL calendar season doesn't start til March, I believe that is when everything needs to be ironed out.

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The cap itself is also subject to a fair amount of manipulation.  With the exception of last season, it always rises, which allows teams to manipulate contracts by pushing cap hits into future years to get themselves under the cap through the use of signing bonuses to replace salary.  The rising cap then 'saves them'.  Teams do have to make hard decisions sometimes, but we've seen teams that are $20M over the cap get down under it with 2 quick contract restructures.

This year the Saints the in the worst cap position I've ever seen.  But they were really awful last year and managed to extend Ramczyk and redo Lattimore in a way that helped them kick the can down the road.  They won't be signing any high-priced FAs but it won't surprise me to see them magically keep almost everyone yet again, with the probable exception of Lattimore.

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17 minutes ago, nycdan said:

The cap itself is also subject to a fair amount of manipulation.  With the exception of last season, it always rises, which allows teams to manipulate contracts by pushing cap hits into future years to get themselves under the cap through the use of signing bonuses to replace salary.  The rising cap then 'saves them'.  Teams do have to make hard decisions sometimes, but we've seen teams that are $20M over the cap get down under it with 2 quick contract restructures.

This year the Saints the in the worst cap position I've ever seen.  But they were really awful last year and managed to extend Ramczyk and redo Lattimore in a way that helped them kick the can down the road.  They won't be signing any high-priced FAs but it won't surprise me to see them magically keep almost everyone yet again, with the probable exception of Lattimore.

Isn't it also that the guys making league minimum don't count against the cap? I thought that was a thing at one time.  Maybe not.  Could have been a dream.  

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It's also pretty easy for teams to get under the cap provided they are willing to dig themselves into holes in the future and risk losing key free agents.  I've seen many here suggest that the cap is meaningless as they point to a team like the Saints. 

The Saints dug themselves into a huge hole because they wanted to get the most out of the final year of Brees and maybe eek into the playoffs this past year. It made sense for them because they had Brees. 

Now they are a bad team with a horrible cap situation......and a coach that realized that and jumped into the nearest life raft. I could see them go into a total rebuild now. 

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Jason just had a good article about the Saints and their cap on overthecap, worth a read.

Also big credit to him for his work in that area and building his site.  It is the go to and most referenced site for even the big networks and big sports news websites most of the tie

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27 minutes ago, Peace Frog said:

Isn't it also that the guys making league minimum don't count against the cap? I thought that was a thing at one time.  Maybe not.  Could have been a dream.  

In the offseason, only the top 51 salaries count against the cap.  That may be what you are thinking of, most tryout/bottom of the roster guys who will be in rookie camp/minicamp/training camp will fall below the top 51 cut off, so the effect will be that most of the guys at league inimum contrats won't count against the cap until the end of the pre-season.  If they make the final 53 or the PS, then they will count against the cap when the season starts.

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1 hour ago, Lith said:

In the offseason, only the top 51 salaries count against the cap.  That may be what you are thinking of, most tryout/bottom of the roster guys who will be in rookie camp/minicamp/training camp will fall below the top 51 cut off, so the effect will be that most of the guys at league inimum contrats won't count against the cap until the end of the pre-season.  If they make the final 53 or the PS, then they will count against the cap when the season starts.

That's it. I knew I wasn't dreaming.  

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5 hours ago, nycdan said:

with the probable exception of Lattimore.

I was looking at his contract and if I understand it correctly they cannot release him for cap relief as that would mean 40mil of dead $$. In a way, kicking his contract down the road or extending him, means 2024/25 are the only realistic years they can cut him. 

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2 players on the Saints who are UFA and will most likely NOT be retained due to their cap situation are Marcus Williams and Terron Armstead. I could see the Jets being in the market for both. Armstead as the Morgan Moses 2.0 insurance to Becton/Fant and Williams as a starter at FS (he's only 25 and has been putting together solid, healthy seasons majority of his career).   

 

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5 hours ago, PepPep said:

I was looking at his contract and if I understand it correctly they cannot release him for cap relief as that would mean 40mil of dead $$. In a way, kicking his contract down the road or extending him, means 2024/25 are the only realistic years they can cut him. 

no, they can't release him but if they trade him they will gain a lot of cap relief.  You can see that in overthecap.com

 

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