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St. PJ

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It's been common knowledge that teams have always "tampered" with potential free agents before the official league year and signing period begins. The NFL finally sanctioned it with a 72 our window of limited contact between agents and teams. I think this has greatly helped the Saints.

We KNOW the Saints are not going to keep Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma at their current salaries. Restructure is out of the question because they aren't worth that money at a later date. What has been called "talks of restructure" in the press are a nice way of saying "we are going to tear up you old contract, but we'd like to bring you back at this lower price; we'll announce a restructure so you can save face". The Saints don't have to announce how they get under the cap until the league year officially begins at 3pm 3/12/12.

So that allows the Mickey Loomis and Co. time to make the BEST decisions. They have had 72 hours to officially guage replacement players needed to ease a 3-4 transition. They've used this time to find out the near cost of that shiny free agent we covet. They've weighed the cost benefit of bringing back a Will Smith and Jon Vilma at reduced premiums. Better yet, Vilma and Smith's agents have had the chance to figure out what the market value may be.

What will we come away with? I can tell you Payloo know exactly what the market value is for Smith and Vilma, and they know 1- the value they place on each, 2- the cap space they will have to work with on bringing in others in addition to the LT position, and 3- that they can field a competitive team without over paying veteran players whose production are in the decline.

The fact remains that the salary cap has been pretty much stagnant going on 3 years now. Furthermore, though the owners will see new TV revenue in 2014, it won't impact the salary cap until 2015, and the full force won't be felt until 2016. Translation-- the cap will be near the same next year as well with a not as big as expected increase in 2015. In other words, you will have an abundance of veteran players in a flooded market this year and the next few who will be had on the cheap AFTER that first flood of top tier signings.

Brees, Rodgers, Manning, Flacco will still get stupid money, but what they are doing is eliminating the middle class. The NFLPA would be better served to have negotiated language in the CBA to the effect that "no single player's cap figure can account for more than 10% of the salary cap in any given year". They didn't, so they screwed the greater majority of their membership.

The benefit goes to a team like the Saints who have that franchise QB and a legit shot at the SB. Veterans who other teams can't afford to keep will be filling the rosters of contenders at bargain rates because the money simply isn't there league-wide. They'll be a few who take more to sign with a team drafting in the top 5, but those teams can only sign so many. Bottom line: in a few weeks the market will be loaded with the kind of free agents the Saints need at a buyers price- a price that wouldn't exist under the old CBA.

I recommend following SR's twitter team. If you don't have twitter, or the data plan to support it, here are a few old school links to refresh as the hours/days go by:

http://www.rotoworld.com/playernews/nfl/football

http://www.kffl.com/hotw/nfl

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/
 
I must be tired because I thought this was going to be about Lady GaGA

lady-gaga-scary-no-make-up-pics-main-465x655.jpg
 
It's been common knowledge that teams have always "tampered" with potential free agents before the official league year and signing period begins. The NFL finally sanctioned it with a 72 our window of limited contact between agents and teams. I think this has greatly helped the Saints.

We KNOW the Saints are not going to keep Will Smith and Jonathan Vilma at their current salaries. Restructure is out of the question because they aren't worth that money at a later date. What has been called "talks of restructure" in the press are a nice way of saying "we are going to tear up you old contract, but we'd like to bring you back at this lower price; we'll announce a restructure so you can save face". The Saints don't have to announce how they get under the cap until the league year officially begins at 3pm 3/12/12.

So that allows the Mickey Loomis and Co. time to make the BEST decisions. They have had 72 hours to officially guage replacement players needed to ease a 3-4 transition. They've used this time to find out the near cost of that shiny free agent we covet. They've weighed the cost benefit of bringing back a Will Smith and Jon Vilma at reduced premiums. Better yet, Vilma and Smith's agents have had the chance to figure out what the market value may be.

What will we come away with? I can tell you Payloo know exactly what the market value is for Smith and Vilma, and they know 1- the value they place on each, 2- the cap space they will have to work with on bringing in others in addition to the LT position, and 3- that they can field a competitive team without over paying veteran players whose production are in the decline.

The fact remains that the salary cap has been pretty much stagnant going on 3 years now. Furthermore, though the owners will see new TV revenue in 2014, it won't impact the salary cap until 2015, and the full force won't be felt until 2016. Translation-- the cap will be near the same next year as well with a not as big as expected increase in 2015. In other words, you will have an abundance of veteran players in a flooded market this year and the next few who will be had on the cheap AFTER that first flood of top tier signings.

Brees, Rodgers, Manning, Flacco will still get stupid money, but what they are doing is eliminating the middle class. The NFLPA would be better served to have negotiated language in the CBA to the effect that "no single player's cap figure can account for more than 10% of the salary cap in any given year". They didn't, so they screwed the greater majority of their membership.

The benefit goes to a team like the Saints who have that franchise QB and a legit shot at the SB. Veterans who other teams can't afford to keep will be filling the rosters of contenders at bargain rates because the money simply isn't there league-wide. They'll be a few who take more to sign with a team drafting in the top 5, but those teams can only sign so many. Bottom line: in a few weeks the market will be loaded with the kind of free agents the Saints need at a buyers price- a price that wouldn't exist under the old CBA.
As always St. PJ-BRAVO!!!! You are clearly a SR legend and one hell of a role model American.
 
The benefit goes to a team like the Saints who have that franchise QB and a legit shot at the SB. Veterans who other teams can't afford to keep will be filling the rosters of contenders at bargain rates because the money simply isn't there league-wide. They'll be a few who take more to sign with a team drafting in the top 5, but those teams can only sign so many. Bottom line: in a few weeks the market will be loaded with the kind of free agents the Saints need at a buyers price- a price that wouldn't exist under the old CBA.

this i somewhat agree with. and hope is true.


those crafty owners...
 
I agree with your explanation. These last couple of days of free agent discussions have shown the Saints other options. They can use these numbers to pressure Vilma and Smith to realistic salaries. DT Cullen Bryant signed with the Giants today 3 yr 8 million. That is in the same range as what we are paying Herring to play special teams. As time goes on, we can get good players for near minimum salary, there are just too many FA and cuts to fit everybody into the NFL this year. A team like the Saints with lots of holes can clean up, if we free up some cash.
 
And then Loomis was all like...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/F0NUPb3tGm8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Seriously though. Good post. I love Loomis and Payton's style. I wouldn't want it any other way.
 
This thread, although informative, isn't original. Remember the Poker Face thread in 2009? It's weird....I do.
 
Every year is the same...fans flock to saintsreport for news....first, they expect that all the 1st tier players will somehow end up in NOLA......then when that isn't happening, they all say "in Loomis we trust"......then when the players they bring in, most of those don't pan out, save a few like Lofton or Bunkley........and towards the end, they resign themselves to whatever the Saints FO does...we agree...mentality.

Actually is quite funny reading some of the posters, who actually give up, and burst out or should I say, lash out at Loomis, when in fact he does not do anything without Sean Payton's approval....
 

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