Let’s talk about the Salary Cap, and teams uses of it

[Coochie liquor]

Saw this on Reddit. Thought it was a better talking point than trading McDuffie, or trading resources for a LT. Also hoping I can get a better understanding from some of you guys who understand it more than me.

The link https://www.reddit.com/r/nfl/s/hPxltIJ2OQ

[OC] Assessing how aggressively teams are using future cap space - the Eagles effectively spent 399 million on their 2024 roster, 32% more than the average team and the most in the league

In recent years, teams have become more aggressive in structuring backloaded contracts to take advantage of the fact that the cap increases every year. Howie has taken this further than any GM in the league.

To assess this, I used APY, which is the average yearly cap hit of a contract. For example, if a player has a cap hit of $5 million this year and $25 million next year, their APY is $15 million.

By [summing the APY of the players on 2024 rosters](https://overthecap.com/contracts) instead of their 2024 cap hits, [we can see which teams are spending future money on current players](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...it?usp=sharing). I also included current dead cap in the calculation to get a full picture of 2024 spend.

|Team|2024 Effective Spend|
:--|:--|
|Eagles|$ 399,805,070|
|49ers|$ 366,851,304|
|Lions|$ 359,733,177|
|Jaguars|$ 358,339,795|
|Dolphins|$ 353,120,509|
|Vikings|$ 350,201,592|
|Bills|$ 344,423,075|
|Browns|$ 333,851,514|
|Jets|$ 328,251,189|
|Texans|$ 325,446,538|
|Broncos|$ 325,374,288|
|Saints|$ 306,845,039|
|Packers|$ 305,439,917|
|Ravens|$ 298,782,626|
|Buccaneers|$ 298,613,176|
|Panthers|$ 298,160,314|
|Falcons|$ 297,660,693|
|Cowboys|$ 288,264,115|
|Chiefs|$ 287,862,988|
|Seahawks|$ 287,471,672|
|Commanders|$ 283,193,993|
|Titans|$ 282,935,233|
|Giants|$ 282,618,087|
|Chargers|$ 275,610,516|
|Steelers|$ 275,385,342|
|Bengals|$ 274,078,824|
|Bears|$ 268,491,690|
|Patriots|$ 263,299,279|
|Colts|$ 259,613,378|
|Cardinals|$ 259,151,131|
|Rams|$ 245,518,950|
|Raiders|$ 232,167,153|

The average team is effectively spending $303 million on their roster, much higher than the current salary cap of $260 million. While this shows most teams are pushing some of their player's cap hits to the future, none are close to the Eagles. There are multiple reasons the Eagle's value is so high

1. Howie has signed many core players to long term, backloaded contracts
1. Howie aggressively uses void years to push money owed later for even short term contracts. For example, CJGJ has a cap hit of 14.5 million for the Eagles in 2027, even though his three year deal ends in 2026
1. Howie already been employing this strategy, meaning the Eagles had $61 million in dead cap in 2024.

You can see other teams like the Niners and Lions leaning into this strategy, giving long extensions to core players that push their cap hits into the future. Notable, the Chiefs have not, meaning they have the option to start spending more aggressively if they adopt this practice.

The most interesting question is if this practice is sustainable. Howie seems to plan to continually kick the can down the road, always paying the current roster with future cap. The advantage of this is clear, having a larger effective salary cap allows you to assemble/keep a talented roster. But there is a downside, it limits flexibility and can make it hard for a team to reset in a down year. Whether the Eagles will run into this problem, and whether adopts this practice across the board remains to be seen.

[scho63]

Quoting Prison Bitch: "That God Damn Jew Howie Roseman taking advantage of all the Gentiles!"

[Coochie liquor]

Originally Posted by RunKC

Imagine the Chiefs still paying Frank Clark dead money this year bc of void years?

Imagine paying Jawaan Taylor dead money in 2027 when he’s been off the team bc we utilized void years?

Imagine paying Justin Reid dead money in 2025 and 2026 when he’s off the team?

This board would melt down if we did that. It’s infinitely better to simply pay them higher cap hits so that you can get them off the books clean/minimal damage rather than paying guys to not play for you.

Anyone who thinks dead money doesn’t matter look at the Broncos. Richest owners in the league by far and they couldn’t spend on FA’s this year bc of Russell Wilson’s enormous dead money.

So it’s the signing bonus that is being pushed to the void years only? And also looks like post June 1 releases then allows the team to split that remaining signing bonus over 2 years instead of 1.

Am I reading this correctly?

[kccrow]

Originally Posted by Coochie liquor

So it’s the signing bonus that is being pushed to the void years only? And also looks like post June 1 releases then allows the team to split that remaining signing bonus over 2 years instead of 1.

Am I reading this correctly?

Yes, you can't prorate salary.

[Coochie liquor]

Originally Posted by kccrow

Yes, you can't prorate salary.

So you’re then talking about the rest of the signing bonus that can be spread over 2 seasons with the cap raising a decent amount every year. Seems like it would be fairly manageable at that point because the rest of the bonus owed may not have that much left, plus splitting it between 2 years, and cap inflation.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by Coochie liquor

So you’re then talking about the rest of the signing bonus that can be spread over 2 seasons with the cap raising a decent amount every year. Seems like it would be fairly manageable at that point because the rest of the bonus owed may not have that much left, plus splitting it between 2 years, and cap inflation.

ASSUMING the cap raises a decent amount every year. There might come a day when that doesn't happen. Or somethings worse happens like a fallout in the CBA. At that point, all of that future spending becomes a current crisis. Like I said before, it's a calculated risk. If things continue as they are, they will be fine. If things don't, the piper comes calling and the whole thing implodes.

[Coochie liquor]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

ASSUMING the cap raises a decent amount every year. There might come a day when that doesn't happen. Or somethings worse happens like a fallout in the CBA. At that point, all of that future spending becomes a current crisis. Like I said before, it's a calculated risk. If things continue as they are, they will be fine. If things don't, the piper comes calling and the whole thing implodes.

Yeah, obviously you wouldn’t want to do it for every player. But the bigger players with the higher salaries and signing bonuses that are just entering their prime seem like good candidates, especially if you’re trying to stay in your window.

[Delano]

You’d have to assume the players association will want changes on the void year process. The players get no benefit from it, while some teams are using it to stretch the cap significantly.

It’s a shared truth that a draft pick today is worth more than one next year. The same is true for cap dollars.

[tredadda]

Originally Posted by htismaqe

Please do not turn this into a political argument. That is not my intention.

Teams using void years like this are essentially banking on the bills never coming due. They're operating like the federal government - just keep borrowing money in present years thinking that money will continue to be printed and you will never have to actually pay for it.

Teams are building these back loaded contracts assuming the salary cap will go up and up and up. It's a calculated risk and if something should happen like a wrench in the CBA, they will come crashing down.

The best way to fix this? It would be for KC to do it as well. It might sting at first, but as with all things KC, if it appears that it gives KC an advantage, the league will change the format.

[Chargem]

Originally Posted by Delano

You’d have to assume the players association will want changes on the void year process. The players get no benefit from it, while some teams are using it to stretch the cap significantly.

It’s a shared truth that a draft pick today is worth more than one next year. The same is true for cap dollars.

The void years are just more years to spread the players bonus on, so it means the team can pay the player a bigger bonus.

[RunKC]

I’m really thankful our GM is Brett Veach. I don’t think people understand how good of a job he’s done for us. 100k of dead money this year. That’s it. A clean cap sheet and an extra high draft pick bc of it.

This offseason is gonna be a transition. They have needs. It’s gonna be similar to 2022 when they traded Tyreek and got rid of Matheiu. The best thing to have for that is flexibility. They’ve got a good amount of assets to use at their disposal. Extra picks and money.

Veach can cut Jawaan Taylor, Drue Tranquill and Mike Danna after next year and save $35 million while only having $11 million in dead money for 1 year while having all 3 off the books completely at he next year. That’s $112 million in cap space in 2026 (12th in NFL) before utilizing a Mahomes restructure.

We have money to use on big FA’s if we really want to. This is how you keep a dynasty moving forward and don’t flame out.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I’m really thankful our GM is Brett Veach. I don’t think people understand how good of a job he’s done for us. 100k of dead money this year. That’s it. A clean cap sheet and an extra high draft pick bc of it.

This offseason is gonna be a transition. They have needs. It’s gonna be similar to 2022 when they traded Tyreek and got rid of Matheiu. The best thing to have for that is flexibility. They’ve got a good amount of assets to use at their disposal. Extra picks and money.

Veach can cut Jawaan Taylor, Drue Tranquill and Mike Danna after next year and save $35 million while only having $11 million in dead money for 1 year while having all 3 off the books completely at he next year. That’s $112 million in cap space in 2026 (12th in NFL) before utilizing a Mahomes restructure.

We have money to use on big FA’s if we really want to. This is how you keep a dynasty moving forward and don’t flame out.

While i get that KC has to make some moves to free up cap space, I don't understand why we would just cut Jawaan. Do we have a better option at RT hanging around that I'm unaware of?

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by RunKC

I’m really thankful our GM is Brett Veach. I don’t think people understand how good of a job he’s done for us. 100k of dead money this year. That’s it. A clean cap sheet and an extra high draft pick bc of it.

This offseason is gonna be a transition. They have needs. It’s gonna be similar to 2022 when they traded Tyreek and got rid of Matheiu. The best thing to have for that is flexibility. They’ve got a good amount of assets to use at their disposal. Extra picks and money.

Veach can cut Jawaan Taylor, Drue Tranquill and Mike Danna after next year and save $35 million while only having $11 million in dead money for 1 year while having all 3 off the books completely at he next year. That’s $112 million in cap space in 2026 (12th in NFL) before utilizing a Mahomes restructure.

We have money to use on big FA’s if we really want to. This is how you keep a dynasty moving forward and don’t flame out.

Which makes me wonder if we could tag Tre Smith and trade him to the Bears.

The Bears have some nice draft picks like 39, 41, 72 that I'd love to have. Clearing the money to allow the tag would be difficult I know, but if you could make it happen I'd love to try and pry one of those picks away from them.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

While i get that KC has to make some moves to free up cap space, I don't understand why we would just cut Jawaan. Do we have a better option at RT hanging around that I'm unaware of?

He's our RT next season. There is no questioning that. We will cut him in 2026 to save a chunk of change.

[Megatron96]

Originally Posted by Hoover

He's our RT next season. There is no questioning that. We will cut him in 2026 to save a chunk of change.

He’s 27, no?

I mean, how long/many more times do you want to hunt for a legit RT/OT? We already desperately need to find a legit LT in the immediate future, but we also want to try and find yet another RT at the same time?


This doesn’t sound like a very smart idea.

[Hoover]

Originally Posted by Megatron96

He’s 27, no?

I mean, how long/many more times do you want to hunt for a legit RT/OT? We already desperately need to find a legit LT in the immediate future, but we also want to try and find yet another RT at the same time?


This doesn’t sound like a very smart idea.

I'm fine with him. But I do think its an area where you can save some money. It's a lot easier finding a RT than LT, and we might already have a solid replacement in Morris in house.