18 Games? What do the players think?

By Steve O’Reilly

Recently the NFL and Union Officials have been hashing around the idea of extending the NFL Season from 16 games to 18 games. Some of the concepts have the Pre Season shortened two games from its original 4 along with other concepts that would be different from the way the current set up is. The idea of 20 games any way you slice it, is 20 games. The question is how many are exhibition and how many are regular season are the cornerstone of debate. Under the current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) the NFL has the authority to expand the season to 22 games but doesn’t want to so without the consent of the Players Union and without figuring out the financial compensation for the players involved. Read more

The Day that Pro Football Salary cap died

In 2006 the league and the players asscoiation reached a new collective bargaining agreement which had a clause called for eliminating the salary cap in 2010. Both sides thought that an uncapped season would be so hated upon that a new contract would be done way before the cap disappeared. When the owners opted out of the CBA in 2008, little thought was given to an actual removal of the salary cap that generally has been beneficial for both owners and players.

Well folks that day March 5, 2010 is here. Friday marks the day when pro football salary cap dies. Free agency starts under a different set of rules, the most shocking thing is no one is really clear where this will lead the NFL. The biggest concern for me and fans around the league is that everything comes to a halt in 2011. No its not a joke folks…The most beloved sport in America is entering uncharted waters…think of the Neil Armstrong taking his first steps on the moon.

“The situation we’re walking into is certainly unknown for everyone,” Tampa Bay Buccaneers general manager Mark Dominik says. “So no one can really look at the crystal ball and say here’s what people are going to spend and here’s what people aren’t going to spend. It’s all pure speculation.”

Marc Ganis, who is president of Chicago-based consulting company Sports Corp. Ltd., believes teams will not overspend.

“That’s one of the possibilities in the uncapped season, will some teams be spending far below the current floor, especially teams that perform poorly on the field?” says Ganis. “Teams will have the option of spending the amount on their team that they think it is worth. A 4-12 team does not have the caliber players a consistently 12-4 team has.

“I expect the small and midsize market clubs are going to start to pay in this uncapped year based on what they can afford.”

Joe Flacco’s agent Joe Linta, is optimistic the dollars will be available. Linta’s thoughts are the same of many others around the league His thoughts echo those by many of his colleagues:

“The owners are all wealthy,” Linta says, “and as much as they need and want to make money, the need to win is greater than the need to make money — they already have plenty. Their insatiable desire to win will override their greed to save and make money. So, yeah, they’ll spend.”

When it comes to teams, some can spend more than others. However, the class of unrestricted free agents (UFA) contains few Big time playmakers and is far less inferior to the class of restricted free agents.(RFA)

Under the current CBA which expires in March, the top conference semifinalists from January’s playoffs have extra restrictions in signing free agents. The final four, for example, (Saints, Colts, Jets and the Vikings) must depart with an unrestricted free agent (UFA) before they can sign one. That definitely makes it tougher for those teams.

“I think it is a penalty for sure,” Jets coach Rex Ryan says. “Maybe you need a tight end or whatever it is and you don’t have that ability to go out and get some of the top guys that might be available.”

Many of those top free agents you see out there aren’t available at all. With no salary cap in place, it now will take six years with a team to actually become an unrestricted free agent, while in past years it was four. NFL Players with four and five seasons under their belt are now restricted, which means the team that loses them earns compensation or would have the right to match offers from other clubs.

All pro defensive end Elvis Dumervil of Denver, who led the league in sacks in 2009; San Diego linebacker Shawne Merriman and receiver Vincent Jackson; Miami running back Ronnie Brown; Dallas receiver Miles Austin; and Houston linebacker DeMeco Ryans are among the 212 players who now are not totally free because of the uncapped season. While Dumervil, Austin and Ryans might be worth the big dollars they would cost, how many other teams out there are likely to part with high draft picks and all the dollars it takes to sign a difference maker?

“For us it’s not changing,” San Francisco 49ers GM Scot McCloughan. “We’re going to go forward as if there is a cap. … We’re not going to be considered a big free agency team anyway. But we’ll do what we need to do in free agency if we think it’s a smart move.”

Not that there won’t be lots of bucks flying into players’ bank accounts. Teams always want to procure as much talent as they can. If someone perceives defensive end Julius Peppers as the answer to their line issues, the money figures to be there — although certainly not on the scale of the $20 million-plus Carolina would have needed to spend to make him a franchise player for the second straight year.

“When we talk about possible free agents, certainly Julius is one of the guys we talk about,” Cleveland Browns president Mike Holmgren says when asked if Peppers could have the kind of impact free-agent Reggie White had in Green Bay when Holmgren was the coach. “Then I have to put on my other hat because there are some financial ramifications there.

“As great a player as Julius is, I’d be reluctant to compare anybody to Reggie White. We did it, at the time we bonused him for I think $8 million. Everybody thought we were nuts. It was numbers off the chart. Now think of that today.”

Put it this way….as of today: NFL organnizations have to consider the consequences of high spending in an uncapped 2010 if in fact the salary cap returns to form like in years previous. The money spent on such a player like Peppers or another Unresticted Free Agent this year might be unlimited, but contract provisions beyond that could get in the way of making sure you’re under the salary cap in the future.

Jim Schwartz The Detroit Lions’s coach believes more experienced, but most likely more worn-down players will be up for grabs in free agency this year. This too could could cut short the spending.

“Most of the … unrestricted players are going to be players that are 29, 30, 31 years old. I think the biggest thing about that is, it places a lot more emphasis on getting the player right,” says Schwartz, whose team needs all the quality talent it can get. “You can get mileage out of a 29-year-old or a 30-year-old as long as you have a very specific role in mind for him and he fits your scheme and you feel good about that, because you’re not going to have a whole lot of startup time with him.”

Lots of executives around the league believe there will be more significance on this years NFL draft because of thechange in free agency

“I sense that we are a lot more focused seemingly this year on draft preparation,” Atlanta Falcons GM Thomas Dimitroff said. “Usually we take this in cycles or segments. There was definitely a free agent segment leading up to beginning of free agency. Now we tend to be focusing on the draft that much earlier. I will be interested to see how much interest there is going into free agency with the fewer numbers.”

So as the clock strikes 12:00 and March 5th is upon us (which is the official time that Free Agency begins) myself and the rest of the NFL nation can only sit and wonder what happens next.