Upshaw: Salary cap to be set at about $80.5M

[The Spaz]

There's good news on the way this week for the half-dozen or so NFL teams that are currently struggling to fight their way under the projected 2004 salary cap: Come Friday, there's going to be a little more cap room than first expected.

NFL Players Association executive director Eugene Upshaw said Wednesday that the league will announce this week that the 2004 salary cap has been set at around $80.5 million per team, almost $2 million more than the $78.7 million preliminary figure that teams had been using as they prepared for the NFL's new business year, which coincides with the opening of free agency on March 3.


Last year's cap wound up being set at just more than $75 million before free agency opened, so this year's $80.5 million cap represents a sizable increase of about 6.6 percent.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2004/football/nfl/02/18/salary.cap.bump/index.html

[mypoorfriendme]

if its all relative, does it really make a difference?

[clumping platelets]

This is good for those teams over the cap. Makes it easier for them to get to cap compliancy. Whether it helps them in FA is another question. It was originally believed that the cap would around $79 million. This adds nearly $50 million to the available cap space league wide

[ryven]

So your saying we are going to have more money than we thought correct.

[Dozerdog]

Everybody will have more money than they expected.


IMHO I don't think the Bills are in tremendous shape. With this new cap $, we ar ewhat, 8-1- million under? We still have winfield to sign.

I'll be more optomistic once the Bledsoe and Ruben Brown deals are dealt with

[Ebenezer]

There are at least 8-10 teams with double digit millions under the cap...huge advantage over the Bills...and actually, with the shape the 'Fins and the Pats are in I would rather see the cap go up to $78 the $81 mil

[HenryRules]

Originally posted by Dozerdog

I'll be more optomistic once the Bledsoe and Ruben Brown deals are dealt with

With the #'s I've heard that some QB's might be getting I'm not sure how much we're gonna save on Bledsoe.

I think Brunell is supposed to get 20 or so mil over 3 or 4 years.

I don't think we're gonna want to commit to Bledsoe for that length, so I see 12 or 13 over 2 being about market value for him (I don't know how heavily backloaded the Brunell deal is though, so maybe the last year is big but it's not expected he'll earn it - like the Jerry Rice and Tim Brown contracts).

[OpIv37]

Originally posted by HenryRules


With the #'s I've heard that some QB's might be getting I'm not sure how much we're gonna save on Bledsoe.

I think Brunell is supposed to get 20 or so mil over 3 or 4 years.

I don't think we're gonna want to commit to Bledsoe for that length, so I see 12 or 13 over 2 being about market value for him (I don't know how heavily backloaded the Brunell deal is though, so maybe the last year is big but it's not expected he'll earn it - like the Jerry Rice and Tim Brown contracts).

You don't think that last year's play knocked his value down below average? He has everything to prove now.,

I'm not happy that they raised the cap- it's going to help Miami and NE keep a player or two. I'd love to see the Dolphins get killed in FA and have a MISERABLE year.

[HenryRules]

Originally posted by OpIv37


You don't think that last year's play knocked his value down below average? He has everything to prove now.,

Brunell lost his job to a rookie that didn't do that well at all.

2 years for 12 or 13 mil is below average for a starting QB I believe.

Look at what Manning is reportedly going to get under the franchise tag (18 mil for one year or something like that).

[Dozerdog]

The Franchise tag averages the top 5 salaries. There's no way the QB franchise tag is 18 million.

[Dozerdog]

I stand corrected-

I wonder how they got to that figure!!

The Colts have until March 15 to negotiate with Manning, but must make a decision on whether to use the NFL’s franchise tag on him by February 24. Under NFL rules, a team may use the franchise tag to retain a player with whom a deal cannot be reached.

Speaking to the Indianapolis media late last month, Irsay said Manning’s salary cap cost to the Colts would be about $11-to-12 million if a long-term deal can be reached. If he plays under the franchise tag, his cap number would be about $18 million.

Because the Colts must be under the NFL’s salary cap by March 3 – the beginning of the NFL’s official league year – Polian said March 1 is the realistic deadline to reach a contract agreement with Manning.

If an agreement is reached, Polian said Plan A goes into effect. If not reach, Plan B goes into effect, and Polian said that will mean more veterans being released to enable the Colts to meet salary-cap requirements.

http://www.colts.com/sub.cfm?page=article7&news_id=1941

[HenryRules]

I am getting confused on the QB tag. I had seen the $18 mil thing in a few spots (and like DD I thought it was unreasonable, however, seeing it multiple times I tended to believe it).

Now, Lenny P is saying that the franchise tag is (a much more reasonable) $10 mil. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...len&id=1737954).

The transition tag is just over $8 mil.

I still think that leaves Drew in the position to command about a $12 or $13 mil contract for 2 years.

[Dozerdog]

Originally posted by HenryRules
I am getting confused on the QB tag. I had seen the $18 mil thing in a few spots (and like DD I thought it was unreasonable, however, seeing it multiple times I tended to believe it).

Now, Lenny P is saying that the franchise tag is (a much more reasonable) $10 mil. (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/column...len&id=1737954).

The transition tag is just over $8 mil.

I still think that leaves Drew in the position to command about a $12 or $13 mil contract for 2 years.

I wonder if Manning had written into one of his deals that if the franchise tag was used, he get some sort of huge bonus-I don't know.

It's the only reasonable explination