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WARHORSE
03-03-2008, 12:22 AM
A very interesting article. Looks like the Broncos are just now getting the hang of it.

Vikings, Eagles rule roost of salary-cap manipulation


It's a regulation buried deep in the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement, a regulation so obscure it doesn't even have a name.
Other than Article XXIV, Section 7, section ii, paragraph c, part (iii).
Here's what it says:
At the end of a season, if performance bonuses previously included in a Team's Team Salary but not actually earned exceed performance bonuses actually earned but not previously included in Team Salary, an amount shall be added to the Team's Salary Cap for the next League Year equaling the amount, if any, by which such overage exceeds the Team's Room under the Salary Cap at the end of a season.
This dizzylingy obtuse regulation is unwittingly having a profound effect on the NFL's economic landscape.
The level playing field the NFL's salary cap supposedly created?
It's a myth.
Because of a variety of complicated tricks that savvy NFL team officials have figured out, teams can manipulate their salary cap to the point where their cap figure winds up millions of dollars higher than the teams they're competing with.
The Vikings and Lions are both in the NFC North. Both have unadjusted cap figures of $116,729,000, like all 32 NFL teams.
Yet the Vikings' 2008 cap figure exceeds $135 million, and the Lions' adjusted figure is more than $111 million.
So the Vikings this offseason will have $20 million more than one of their division rivals to pay free agents and re-sign their own players. That's an 18 percent difference, and it demonstrates just how much of a difference shrewd cap management can make.
The NFL salary cap is a fluid number. Although the unadjusted cap number for all 32 teams is identical, the real numbers actually vary greatly.
Here's why.
Teams need room to make room. The way the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement works, the more flexibility a team has, the easier it is to gain future flexibility. So teams that find themselves in cap trouble are often stuck there for years. And teams that stay out of cap trouble can tweak contracts in certain ways that generate huge cap advantages in later years.
That's where the above CBA trick comes into play.
Teams with significant cap space late in a season can manipulate the following year's cap by writing likely-to-be-earned incentive bonuses into contracts that, in reality, have zero chance of being earned.

Such incentives count against a team's cap the year they're written, but if they're not met -- and teams have ways of making sure they're not met -- the team is then credited the amount of the bonuses against the following year's cap.
According to figures distributed to each NFL team this week, 24 of the 32 NFL teams were given upward cap adjustments for 2008, six teams were given downward cap adjustments (thanks to conventional incentives that were met) and two teams had no adjustments.
Of the 24 teams that gained more room under the cap, seven tacked on at least $10 million, a group led by the Vikings ($18,432,577), Eagles ($14,087,449), Buccaneers ($13,306,634), Bills ($12,713,009) and Browns ($12,633,503).
Not coincidentally, the Eagles, Vikings, Bills and Browns all made a splash on the first day of free agency.
The Vikings signed safety Madieu Williams to a six-year, $33 million contract; the Eagles signed Asante Samuel to a six-year, $57 million deal, the Bills acquired linebacker Kawika Mitchell and signed him to a five-year, $17.5 million deal; and the Browns traded for defensive tackle Corey Williams and gave him a deal including nearly $20 in guaranteed components.
What team lost the most money via cap adjustments? The Lions. They have the lowest adjusted cap in the league in 2008 -- their $111,380,935 figure actually coming out $5,348,065 below the unadjusted cap figure.
Does that surprise anybody?

2008 Salary Cap Figures TeamAdjustmentsAdjusted Cap
Arizona Cardinals$0.....$116,729,000
Atlanta Falcons($350,574).........$116,378,426
Baltimore Ravens$2,532,265.......$119,261,265
Buffalo Bills$12,713,009......$129,442,009
Carolina Panthers$8,926,802.......$125,655,802
Chicago Bears$726,231.........$117,455,231
Cincinnati Bengals$0........$116,729,000
Cleveland Browns$12,633,503.......$129,362,503
Dallas Cowboys$998,443......$117,727,443
Denver Broncos$660,000........$117,389,000
Detroit Lions($5,348,065)........$111,380,935
Green Bay Packers$9,430,581........$126,159,581
Houston Texans($2,207,869)........$114,521,131
Indianapolis Colts$6,501,115............$123,230,115
Jacksonville Jaguars$11,920,898........$128,649,898
Kansas City Chiefs$11,658,373........$128,387,373
Miami Dolphins$3,944,997.........$120,673,997
Minnesota Vikings$18,432,577..........$135,161,577
New England Patriots$2,596,078.........$119,325,078
New Orleans Saints$8,017,003..........$124,746,003
New York Giants($3,096,512)........$113,632,488
New York Jets$5,052,789.........$121,781,789
Oakland Raiders$4,340,722.......$121,069,722
Philadelphia Eagles$14,087,449.........$130,816,449
Pittsburgh Steelers($1,910,774).........$114,818,226
San Diego Chargers($597,647)...........$116,131,353
San Francisco 49ers$2,310,787.........$119,039,787
Seattle Seahawks$7,386,108..........$124,115,108
St. Louis Rams$632,320.........$117,361,320
Tampa Bay Buccaneers$13,306,634........$130,035,634
Tennessee Titans$5,491,147........$122,220,147
Washington Redskins$1,821,260.......$118,550,260

• 2008 unadjusted salary cap is $116,729,000
• Numbers in parentheses are negative cap adjustments

WARHORSE
03-03-2008, 12:27 AM
Kinda hard when your cap number is 116 mil and the Eagles is at 130 mil, eh?

BeefStew25
03-03-2008, 12:28 AM
Kinda hard when your cap number is 116 mil and the Eagles is at 130 mil, eh?

Well, it is not their fault they know the rules better.

OB
03-03-2008, 12:30 AM
So is there any truth to the rumor the cap may cease to exist in 2011?

Lonestar
03-03-2008, 12:33 AM
Well, it is not their fault they know the rules better.


Probably have a real GM..That knows the rules..

OB
03-03-2008, 12:47 AM
wel if its strictly about management i dont get it - if i were Pat id be like he mike u r great n all as a coach but we need someone who can add 2 & 2 and come out with 4

I would think alot of it has to do with expectations - u would expect a certain player to do good (or not) and have that as part of the equation - and since that will always be a variable - some of it has to do with luck - kinda lika poker - no?

frauschieze
03-03-2008, 01:17 AM
Probably have a real GM..That knows the rules..

I doubt that any GM is solely responsible. The Broncos have one guy who is in charge of crunching the numbers to get under the cap and knowing all the rules. They ran a feature on him on the main site last offseason. If I remember right, he has worked his way up in the front office and is still fairly young. I'm sure he had much more of an effect on how much over the unadjusted cap than either Shanahan or Sundquist.

Lonestar
03-03-2008, 01:46 AM
I doubt that any GM is solely responsible. The Broncos have one guy who is in charge of crunching the numbers to get under the cap and knowing all the rules. They ran a feature on him on the main site last offseason. If I remember right, he has worked his way up in the front office and is still fairly young. I'm sure he had much more of an effect on how much over the unadjusted cap than either Shanahan or Sundquist.


That is our guy and most likely reports to mikey.. I was alluding to the other teams that were ahead of the issue.

fcspikeit
03-03-2008, 02:28 AM
Probably have a real GM..That knows the rules..

I love you Jr..


You never miss a chance to point out how bad a GM Mikey is :D


Something tells me we have the same favorite smurf... "Grumpy hates Mike Shanahan!" :lol:

Stargazer
03-03-2008, 02:44 AM
We're seeing cap mgmt folks. Just look at this offseason. This is the start.

WARHORSE
03-03-2008, 04:34 AM
At least the Broncos are in the black.

The money isnt there for these teams to sign away at a mega cap speed limit anyways.

frauschieze
03-03-2008, 08:26 AM
That is our guy and most likely reports to mikey.. I was alluding to the other teams that were ahead of the issue.

The guy's name is Mike Bluem, Director of Football Administration. According to the Denver Broncos website, he reports to both.


Bluem’s current responsibilities include working closely with General Manager Ted Sundquist and Head Coach Mike Shanahan on all player transactions and trades; negotiating player contracts; managing the salary cap, including forecast analysis of future years as well as compliance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement and NFL Player Personnel rules; and assisting in other areas of player personnel.

NameUsedBefore
03-03-2008, 09:24 AM
Doesn't seem like being way above the cap is a catalyst for good play, though.

Lonestar
03-03-2008, 02:11 PM
I love you Jr..


You never miss a chance to point out how bad a GM Mikey is :D


Something tells me we have the same favorite smurf... "Grumpy hates Mike Shanahan!" :lol:


I want him as our HC and OC past that is it time to make a change..

BTW I could always hit and hanging curve ball out of the park.. When someone leaves a great comeback opportunity you have to swing at it..

Are you happy with what mikey the GM has done to this team in the past 12 or so years?

silkamilkamonico
03-03-2008, 04:19 PM
So is there any truth to the rumor the cap may cease to exist in 2011?

Yes, and then if something isn't worked out by 2012....strike.

At this point in time, it's looking real likely that there will be a strike. But as the time gets closer and closer, and the pressure is on, both sides will likely give and take.

fcspikeit
03-03-2008, 06:45 PM
I want him as our HC and OC past that is it time to make a change..

BTW I could always hit and hanging curve ball out of the park.. When someone leaves a great comeback opportunity you have to swing at it..

Are you happy with what mikey the GM has done to this team in the past 12 or so years?

I agree he is a lot better coach then GM... But I don't think he is the worst GM in the NFL either.. We definitely could do better, but we could do worse too.

To tell you the truth, I don't think hes all that great a coach either. I think he is smart and if he gets the right players for his system it is hard to stop. However, he is a one trick pony. He cannot build a game plan around the talent he has. Either the players fit his system or we are toast. The blame can always fall back on the players because they didn't execute his system right. Even though there is no way in hell Gold could cover Jackson, it was Gold's fault because he got beat.

Its like scripting the first 15. If he has a good game plan, we do well but if it isn't working he sucks at adapting to what the defense is doing. How long have we been a terrible second half team? The only explanation for that is Shanahan is terrible at adjusting at halftime. I wonder how many times Elway changed the plays and saved Mikeys butt? Cutler never calls audibles.. I suspect when he starts we will be a better team.

Superchop 7
03-03-2008, 06:48 PM
The cap can be manipulated, I've been saying that for years.

However,

Keep in mind that these are "likely" to be earned incentives.

as opposed to "not likely" to be earned. (which don't count in extended cap space)

The league has the final say so on the "likelihood". (maybe, this is a problem, I don't know, ask MUG)

Aside from that possible flaw,

Personally, I like it.

Reasoning ????

Parity.

If a team has a god-awfull year, this allows them some flexibility the following year to get back on track.

It also creates alot of incentive for the player to work hard. (If you perform up to expectations, you get paid)

Maybe it needs tweaking, but, to me, it makes alot of sense.