Lockdown - Building a roster through free agency becoming harder...

[Bill B]

Here is an interesting article by Don Banks that talks about NFL roster building and how free agency is becoming more and more difficult. It seems that many NFL observers are coming to the realization that building your roster through free agency first and the draft second will be a thing of the past.
Why - here is the qoute below from Banks himself:
"The reason is obvious, and somewhat ironic. Players have fought to increase the size of the NFL's salary cap, and it has, jumping from $85.5 million in 2005 to a whopping $109 million this year (an increase of 27.5 percent in two years). But the net effect has been that fewer star players actually get to the market these days, because with the added cap room, teams are wisely locking up their best players with either contract extensions or franchise-player tags."

So maybe some at Redskin Park might take notice and treat the draft a little differently in the years to come.

SI.com - Writers - Don Banks: Teams able to keep good players out of free agency - Thursday March 1, 2007 1:03PM

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Yup. I totally agree with Don Banks (surprisingly). I think a lot of people saw this coming a few months ago.

[FRPLG]

OKay some needs to teach donnie banks some math.

Yes teams have plenty of money to spend NOW because the cap shot up and most contracts on the team were signed PRIOR to the new cap. What about in 5 years when every contract has been signed SINCE the cap uppage? It doesn't take a math genius to realize at that point even the lower paid guys salaries will have increased proportionally and the net effect will be that the cap isn't much different than it was before. This is simply the transition period before it all evens back out. Maybe that theory applies right now but it is not something to look at long term.

[Sheriff Gonna Getcha]

Originally Posted by FRPLG

OKay some needs to teach donnie banks some math.

Yes teams have plenty of money to spend NOW because the cap shot up and most contracts on the team were signed PRIOR to the new cap. What about in 5 years when every contract has been signed SINCE the cap uppage? It doesn't take a math genius to realize at that point even the lower paid guys salaries will have increased proportionally and the net effect will be that the cap isn't much different than it was before. This is simply the transition period before it all evens back out. Maybe that theory applies right now but it is not something to look at long term.

I wholeheartedly agree, but he's dead on for the next several years.