The Rollover Cap

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CGI_Ram

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With the change to the CBA that allows teams to rollover any leftover cap (intended to maximize the spend by teams and penalize teams that do not spend to the floor)...

Could we see more teams "saving" cap dollars with the intent to steal a good player with a heavy front loaded deal?

This seems like it could be used in ways that disrupt things in a potentially negative way; does this motivate players toward free agency? How contracts are perceived, i.e. what does the best contract look like?

Sort of like;

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/...ousins-60m-in-the-first-year-of-his-contract/

Jets reportedly want to give Kirk Cousins $60M ... in the first year of his contract

The Jets are not playing around when it comes to free agency. New York reportedly is willing to spend "whatever it takes" to land quarterback Kirk Cousins on the open market, and it appears that number might well be $60 million. In the first year.

According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, the Jets are toying around with ways of getting creative with a contract offer to Cousins, including offering the free agent quarterback an absurd $60 million guaranteed in the first year.

Yes, sixty million dollars. The logic here is that the Jets can't really match up with other potential suitors -- the Vikings, Jaguars, Cardinals and Broncos come to mind -- in terms of offering immediate competitiveness. Such is life on a bad team located in the same division as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

But they can compete with those teams in terms of money. In fact, the Jets have more than just about any other team in the league. Once they release Muhammad Wilkerson (and that will happen) and Matt Forte (and that is likely to happen), New York will be in the range of $100 million in cap space.


Go out and lob $60 million of that in Cousins face, make him swim in it Scrooge McDuck style, and all of a sudden you put him in a position where it's difficult to say no. Cousins can talk about playing for less money all he wants, but there's no one else getting him $60 million up front, in the first year of a contract. At that point you're talking $100 million or more in the first three years of the deal, and basically approaching a contract that ends up being fully guaranteed.

Under this construct, the Jets would also have another $30 million or so to go out and spend on free agents who can help Cousins immediately, not to mention the freedom to either use the No. 6 pick on an impact player (Calvin Ridley, Quenton Nelson, Saquon Barkley come to mind) or to trade down and pick up several players who can make the team better.

The Jets would ostensibly be selling Cousins on a multi-year plan that features them improving this year and then really trying to make a leap in the next few years, when they can be aggressive again in free agency thanks to Cousins's cap number coming down in the later years of his contract.

Whether or not Cousins is willing to go down that path with the Jets may depend on comfort for him. He clearly liked Washington and was willing to make something work, but the franchise never committed to him, particularly on the financial front. The Jets won't have that problem, and they can sell him on Jeremy Bates, a disciple of Mike Shanahan's offense, providing Cousins a lot of comfort with the system in place.


Everything here, by the way, is predicating on the Redskins not being petty and using the franchise tag on Cousins. Washington agreed to a trade for Alex Smith already, so it would be silly/obtuse to tag Cousins. But you never know with them.

They just have to hope that the combination of players, system and financial opportunity for Cousins beats out what everyone else is offering. Based on the rumors being thrown around, they have to at least feel good about their chance to overwhelm Cousins with the almighty dollar.
 

LesBaker

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Could we see more teams "saving" cap dollars with the intent to steal a good player with a heavy front loaded deal?

I think that will happen more often in an attempt to keep a team's rising young talent.

If you have 2 or 3 stars coming due at the same time rolling money forward can make the difference between signing them all or making the choice regarding who walks. When that kind of thing happens to a team a few times, like in SEA, it can close the window quickly.
 

LesBaker

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Fair point, he's getting paid either way.

The downside is the effect on that years cap. So the Jets may lose out somewhere else. I know they have a lot of cap space but adding a few players and Cousins on a more traditional contract (if possible) is the smart play.

I don't know of any real talent on that roster, so Cousins may not even have any interest.
 

Riverumbbq

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It would be nice if the Rams had the CAP money available to do that with Donald, it would make it far easier when re-signing Goff & Gurley.
 

dieterbrock

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I don't know of any real talent on that roster, so Cousins may not even have any interest.
I think teams look at the Rams and Eagles and see how quickly things can turn around. Jets lost 8 games by 9 points or less. They only got blown out 2 or 3 times.
Adding a top level QB and a playmaker or 2 on offense, and boom
 

Ram65

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According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, the Jets are toying around with ways of getting creative with a contract offer to Cousins, including offering the free agent quarterback an absurd $60 million guaranteed in the first year.

Yes, sixty million dollars. The logic here is that the Jets can't really match up with other potential suitors -- the Vikings, Jaguars, Cardinals and Broncos come to mind -- in terms of offering immediate competitiveness. Such is life on a bad team located in the same division as Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Seems like a good to great idea if they are allowed to do it. I kinda remember that the salaries have to be within a certain percentage each year. In any event paying Cousins the 60 Million now frees up cap space later to sign more players is a great way to stagger player expense. Demoff does it on a much smaller scale. Something to watch.
 

LesBaker

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Yes but counting it, meaning the 60MIL, in the first year has a HUGE effect on the cap for that year. The cap next year is 178MIL.

Giving a third of that to one guy when you have a roster of over 50 to populate is a sizable risk. Even if you can get everyone else to take a lower salary the first couple of years and give them a higher bonus that is amortized over the life of the contract it's a big fat risk because you push potential dead money out over the next 2-5 years.

That can backfire in such a big way.
 

LesBaker

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I'm talking about money apportioned to other players/contracts. They would have to be back loaded more than normally since less cap $ is available the first year because of the 60MIL going to Cousins.
 

Akrasian

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I think the idea is to not overspend on other players in 2018. They're in a position that few players want to play with them unless they overspend. Overspend on Cousins THIS year, with almost all of the cap hit in 2018. Then after they show improvement between Cousins, their draft picks, and some wisely made bargain free agent signings this year, they will be much more attractive next year AND have a lot of cap room for signings.

Now whether Cousins feels that way, we'll see.

Oh, and other things being equal, money upfront (either first year salary, roster bonus, or signing bonus paid all at once) is more desirable than money deferred. Usually accountants will value money upfront as around 5% a year better than money deferred, since you get to invest it and make more money.
 

LesBaker

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I'm not talking about how his deal effects the cap, I mean that they will have to possibly change how they do contracts this year with rookies, free agents and their own people.

The more cap he eats up this year the more they may have to back load other contracts though because they can't front load them all. Bonuses would be structured differently for other guys to get paid on big deals. That can cause cap issues if things don't work out.

It's a double edged sword.
 

Akrasian

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If they are looking for a way to game the system the won't be offering less. Paying most of it upfront is a way to in effect increase the amount of cap dollars your team spends, compared to other teams - giving you a competitive advantage, albeit not a ginormous one. The Jets, as a NY area team, likely have more total revenue than some of the smaller market teams, and their ownership may wish to take advantage of any loopholes to bring their extra revenue into play.