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Consider this for a moment.
The current rend in the NFl is to simply franchise tag the players you do not want to lose. Some teams perpetually franchise tag players to prevent losing them.
Teams manage to find players that develop into starters or even pro-bowlers and then simply franchise tag them to keep them. That all seems well and good. Except that the salary cap is high enough to allow teams to do this every year and still be competitive. One of the concepts of the salary cap is to level the playing field. Instead, we are now to the point where a perpetual deep playoff or even SB team is able to franchise a backup QB to the tune of 14.6 million. Thats not the purpose of the salary cap.
Effectively, whats happening is that teams that have a very good team are able to let so so players leave and tag their very good players, the free agent market becomes watered down, and teams that are deperate to add top notch talent never get a chance to.
That forces teams to rely heavily on the draft which is not a bad thing. But you must build your por-bowlers from within and then retain them through huge resignings or the franchise tag. If your a team that cant spend up to the exorbanant cap, or if you simply choose not to, you let your own best players leave and then cant replace them due to the watered down pool.
The Bills are caught in a catch 22 at this point. They are not poor eneough to be in a position to draft the next Matt Ryan, Patrick Willis, or Julius Peppers, and none of those players will ever hit free agency. They obviously have caused their own problems with multiple mistakes over the years, but the system doesnt help byt any means.
I sincerely hope the new CBA drops the salary cap way back and forces teams to make prudent and wise decisions where they cant keep everybody due strictly to the cap. Unfortunately, right now the only people benefiting from the huge cap are the rich teams. Top tier players who are due to hit free agency are stuck signing a franchise tag with no long term commitment. Teams that made mistakes in drafting cant add the young and extremely talented players because they never hit the market. And teams that dont have the money to spend up to the cap cant always afford the huge franchise tags to keep their best players.
I wouldnt mind seeing teams be forced to forfiet a draft pick or even pick(s) if they tag the same player more than once. I also wouldnt mind seeing teams be able to spend over the cap for a player that they really want but cant afford by forfeiting a pick or pick(s).
I dont want teams to not be able to keep their own because of the cap, but I also dont want them to abuse the franchise tags because they have more money then lots of other teams. If Carolina wanted to keep Peppers, they would have to forfeit a 2nd or maybe even 1st rounder this year because they choose not to resign him and would go over the new lower cap figure.
Something like that.
My point is that its ridiculous for the Pats to be able to get away with franchise tagging a backup QB for 14.6 million, and then trading him and getting more draft picks out of it. The purpose is to level the playing field and that is an abuse of the system.
Right now, all the good players get franchised, and teams cant get better quick. But teams like Carolina are simply franchising their top guy year after year becausethey refuse to pay him what hes worth and wont let anyone else either.
The systems broke, its not good for the game.
The current rend in the NFl is to simply franchise tag the players you do not want to lose. Some teams perpetually franchise tag players to prevent losing them.
Teams manage to find players that develop into starters or even pro-bowlers and then simply franchise tag them to keep them. That all seems well and good. Except that the salary cap is high enough to allow teams to do this every year and still be competitive. One of the concepts of the salary cap is to level the playing field. Instead, we are now to the point where a perpetual deep playoff or even SB team is able to franchise a backup QB to the tune of 14.6 million. Thats not the purpose of the salary cap.
Effectively, whats happening is that teams that have a very good team are able to let so so players leave and tag their very good players, the free agent market becomes watered down, and teams that are deperate to add top notch talent never get a chance to.
That forces teams to rely heavily on the draft which is not a bad thing. But you must build your por-bowlers from within and then retain them through huge resignings or the franchise tag. If your a team that cant spend up to the exorbanant cap, or if you simply choose not to, you let your own best players leave and then cant replace them due to the watered down pool.
The Bills are caught in a catch 22 at this point. They are not poor eneough to be in a position to draft the next Matt Ryan, Patrick Willis, or Julius Peppers, and none of those players will ever hit free agency. They obviously have caused their own problems with multiple mistakes over the years, but the system doesnt help byt any means.
I sincerely hope the new CBA drops the salary cap way back and forces teams to make prudent and wise decisions where they cant keep everybody due strictly to the cap. Unfortunately, right now the only people benefiting from the huge cap are the rich teams. Top tier players who are due to hit free agency are stuck signing a franchise tag with no long term commitment. Teams that made mistakes in drafting cant add the young and extremely talented players because they never hit the market. And teams that dont have the money to spend up to the cap cant always afford the huge franchise tags to keep their best players.
I wouldnt mind seeing teams be forced to forfiet a draft pick or even pick(s) if they tag the same player more than once. I also wouldnt mind seeing teams be able to spend over the cap for a player that they really want but cant afford by forfeiting a pick or pick(s).
I dont want teams to not be able to keep their own because of the cap, but I also dont want them to abuse the franchise tags because they have more money then lots of other teams. If Carolina wanted to keep Peppers, they would have to forfeit a 2nd or maybe even 1st rounder this year because they choose not to resign him and would go over the new lower cap figure.
Something like that.
My point is that its ridiculous for the Pats to be able to get away with franchise tagging a backup QB for 14.6 million, and then trading him and getting more draft picks out of it. The purpose is to level the playing field and that is an abuse of the system.
Right now, all the good players get franchised, and teams cant get better quick. But teams like Carolina are simply franchising their top guy year after year becausethey refuse to pay him what hes worth and wont let anyone else either.
The systems broke, its not good for the game.
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