Chatter from NFL Owners' Meeting

[sportscurmudgeon]

The same agent who represents LaVar Arrington also represents Orlando Pace in St. Louis. Pace was the franchise player last year and will likely be the franchise player this year too. If so, he will earn about $7.7M for one year. the reason that a long term deal that is a bit more "cap friendly" in the early years has not bee reached is that the agent has asked for a 7-year contract worth "over $75M" with a $27M signing bonus. The Rams' GM called that a ransom note and not a contract proposal.

Lots of talk about how the signing bonus lid has been blown away this year because next year Tom Brady will be a free agent. He has two Super Bowl rings in the past 3 years and Payton Manning has two playoff wins in the last three years. Manning got $34.5M as a signing bonus; some people in Flroida are worried that Brady might get $40M or more.

Owners are counting on the cap going up significantly after the next round of TV negotiations (more money coming in as revenue drives up the cap) because it appears that NFL football is the only major pro sport on TV that actually brings a profit for the networks. NCAA basketball is also profitable and so are some of the minor sports that have no significant rights' fees (bowling and Arena Football). So, the owners hope to jack up the rights' fees on the basis that their games provide big time promotional opportunities for networks AND bring them profits. Interesting to watch that unfold - and to see just how many contracts have big bonuses in the 06/07 timeframe counting on a "cap jump".

More later???

[MTK]

Sports, do you know if cable TV is going to be able to offer all the games soon like DirecTV?

I know there was some talks of it happening before the DirecTV contract was recently renewed, just wondering if you've heard anything about that.

[sportscurmudgeon]

I have heard nothing along those lines.

Let me do a little speculating here:

If there were no provisions in the DirecTV contract preventing the NFL from doing this deal on digital cable networks, my guess is that it would be done by now. Reason? More potential subscribers = more revenue with no added costs to the NFL.

THEREFORE, I have to assume for the moment that the deal with DirecTV precludes that from happening immediately.

[Skins fan 44]

I would imagine that Direct TV is doing everything to prevent cable networks or any other satellite providers from getting the NFL package. Direct TV sets theirselves above the rest by doing this. The minute they loose is when they lose lots of customers. Surely the NFL could make lots more bucks letting every cable and satellite just like every other sport does. Call it a monopoly on Direct TV's part. Didn't Direct TV buy Dish Network or vice versa a couple of years ago. Did that go through?

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by sportscurmudgeon

Lots of talk about how the signing bonus lid has been blown away this year because next year Tom Brady will be a free agent. He has two Super Bowl rings in the past 3 years and Payton Manning has two playoff wins in the last three years. Manning got $34.5M as a signing bonus; some people in Flroida are worried that Brady might get $40M or more.

I don't see Brady getting a bigger deal than Manning, because the Patriots are a cheap team. They are not cash rich like other teams. Plus the Manning deal is crazy. I see the Colts in a year or two regretting this deal when they have to cut players to stay under the cap. I see it similar to Alex Rodriguez in Texas. The Colts are still a few players away from being able to win a superbowl. Manning's cap number in a few years will consume a large percentage of the cap and leave them with no options..

[BrudLee]

Originally Posted by Defensewins

I don't see Brady getting a bigger deal than Manning, because the Patriots are a cheap team. They are not cash rich like other teams. Plus the Manning deal is crazy. I see the Colts in a year or two regretting this deal when they have to cut players to stay under the cap. I see it similar to Alex Rodriguez in Texas. The Colts are still a few players away from being able to win a superbowl. Manning's cap number in a few years will consume a large percentage of the cap and leave them with no options..

I don't think the Manning deal is as backloaded as other deals of it's size normally are. With a signing bonus of that size, you pretty much know how the cap hit is going to come when you sign the deal. This isn't like Stephen Davis's deal with us a few years ago, where no one thought it would go the length of the deal.

[Defensewins]

Originally Posted by BrudLee

I don't think the Manning deal is as backloaded as other deals of it's size normally are. With a signing bonus of that size, you pretty much know how the cap hit is going to come when you sign the deal. This isn't like Stephen Davis's deal with us a few years ago, where no one thought it would go the length of the deal.

Actually it is back loaded. Manning will count $8M the next two years.
But he jumps to $10M in 2006, $18M in 2008, a whopping $20.6M in 2009 and $19M in 2010. Even if they restructure later, the big signing bonus will still haunt them. Plus I read there are several attainable incentives, these numbers will go higher!
Manning better not get hurt.


Year Base Cap
2004 $535,000 $8.302 m
2005 $665,000 $8.432 m
2006 $1 m $10.052 m
2007 $1 m $7.686 m
2008 $11.5 m $18.186 m
2009 $14 m $20.686 m
2010 $15.8 m $19.952 m

[MTK]

But isn't a large portion of Manning's signing bonus up front? I thought I remember hearing that a huge chunk is due pretty quickly.

[Defensewins]

No, actually it is spread into three payments. Manning will receive a $34.5 million signing bonus, the largest in NFL history, and will likely earn $19 million more in roster bonuses. Then there are the incentives.

[offiss]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

Sports, do you know if cable TV is going to be able to offer all the games soon like DirecTV?

I know there was some talks of it happening before the DirecTV contract was recently renewed, just wondering if you've heard anything about that.

From what I remember in 2006 or whenever the direct tv contract expires, the NFL will institute a pay per view with all network's.

[JWsleep]

The cap bump is going to help the skins, probably more than other teams. We've got relatively young guys under contract, and they get big payments in 2006/2007. Everyone yells at Snyder, saying the team will implode in 2006, but the cap will increase, and the team will be fine. Then with a few creative resturctures and a few cuts, we can sustain the team by resigning rookies to big deals, getting more FAs, and developing low draft picks/undrafted FAs in Gibbs system.

This can work!

[sportscurmudgeon]

JWsleep:

Believe me, I recognize that the "cap bump" in 06/07 has been a big part of the Redskins' planning process over the past year or so. And it will make the team able to keep many of the players they signed to long term deals. Here are my worries anyhow:

1. Injuries. You can't predict them. You can't plan for them. You can't be afraid to sign players to big deals because they might generate lots of "dead money" because of injuries because if you do that you'll never have anything more than a glorified college All-Star team. But if Clinton Portis gets hurt and his injury turns him into a an "average RB", the damage will be a whole lot more than just an injury to a RB.

2. The wrong players. Some players never turn out to be the "'foundation players" they were envisioned to be. Case in point is Jeremiah Trotter who signed with the Skins for MORE money than Ray Lewis was making at the time. I don't care if you bleed burgandy and piss gold, if you think that Jeremiah Trotter was worth more than Ray Lewis as a linebacker two seasons ago, you were hallucinating. So, let's hope that Shawn Springs and LaVar Arrington prove to be worth the investment in them. Oh yeah, Mark Brunell too.

3. Internal "strife". One of the hallmarks of Joe Gibbs in the 1980s was that when a player became an internal distraction he got cut immediately. That is one of the reasons why there were rarely any dissention issues on the teams then. There were no cap issues or dead money implications then; there are now.

[JWsleep]

Good points as usual, SC. But at least it's not certain cap hell, like many commentators have made it out.

Concerning injuries, that a risk all teams take,though the FA heavy teams expose themselves to it the most. Imagine if Manning goes down, or more likely Kearse. Still, we've got risk there.

As for locker room stuff/ "wrong players", Gibbs and co. will probably find more ways to keep it under control. He's a great manager of personalities, so he'll probably find a way short of cutting folks if he can. And Gibbs will back his team leaders in a way that should help them keep order. And Gibbs can motivate with the best of them.

We shall see!