“We Will Have A Salary Cap”
March 14th, 2011
Former NFL personnel executive Mike Lombardi, now a premier talking head on NFL Network (unavailable to Out House Networks prisoners), was yammering yesterday on the air about how “we will have a salary cap” in 2011.
And he went on to rattle off various free agents that teams won’t be able to re-sign due to budget limitations. The Bucs will have no such problems, of course.
During Lombardi’s chatter he talked about how the Jets will have to prepare now to re-sign Mark Sanchez to a massive deal as he gets closer to free agency. That got Joe thinking about how much Josh Freeman will eventually command.
But more important, the Bucs undoubtedly will have to pay some free agents hefty money to reach the new salary cap floor, when one is established for 2011 — and it likely will be a bigger floor than ever considering the players are negotiating for more money and league revenues are skyrocketing.
If Barrett Ruud and Davin Joseph walk, Joe wonders where that money will be spent. Perhaps the Bucs take a page out of some other teams’ playbooks and lock up some of their young players before they hit free agency.
March 14th, 2011 at 11:53 am
Based on what the League offered the players, an offer that DeMaurice declined, the Salary Cap would have increased to $161 million by 2014.
The Bucs are more than half that at the moment. I wonder what would have been the floor?
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/09000d5d81eb9907/article/league-releases-details-of-proposal-that-union-didnt-accept?module=HP_headlines
March 14th, 2011 at 11:54 am
I meant the Bucs have a team salary of less than half that.
March 14th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
@WeNeedDefense: I heard in the proposal, the floor was to be 90% of the cap. So a pretty small window. But we’ll see.
And Joe, yes, Freeman will command big dollars when his contract comes up. I’m guessing they will sign him as early as a year from today. Assuming he plays as well this year as he did last year, probably for something around 80-90 Million. Yowzer!
March 14th, 2011 at 12:40 pm
King’s MMQB column talks about the floor and suggests we should go after Nnamdi.
Either way we are going to be spending more than “usual” next season… I just pray for 1 impact FA, just 1! I know its the devils way but I can’t help myself.
March 14th, 2011 at 5:44 pm
Gary…Who cares if it is a FA or a player on the team, as long as they play well and win some games. I am not for or against free agents, I am just for winning…oops, sounded a bit like Charllie.