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 The business of the NFL
Posted: Wednesday May 12, 1999 11:42 PM
In the fall we play the games, in the winter free agency takes up a lot of the NFL time, and in the early spring, the college draft is the hot topic. So what goes on in May and June? The all important business of football, rearranging salary structures, getting caps under control, preparing to negotiate with your draft picks and deciding which players have to be terminated to make room for the rookies. The key point to remember is that veteran football players will be cut or asked to take significant pay cuts without competing on the field. Nothing personal, but it's just business, as people like to say. Coaches hate this time of year. Most coaches believe the football personnel decisions should be decided on the field. Nowadays the team "capologist" has a lot more to do with the roster than some coaches. Let me show you why this is the state of affairs in the NFL today. The Cleveland Browns have the largest cap space allotted ($4.4 million) for their draft picks because they had the most picks and the Saints have the smallest cap space allotted ($1.6 million) because they only had one pick, Ricky Williams. Most teams need about $3 million of cap space to sign the draft picks; as of yesterday only eight teams have enough space to proceed with rookie negotiations. The other 23 teams must create space. How do they do it? One or more of the following methods is required: • 1. Cut high-priced veterans after June 1. (Andy Heck in Chicago would give the Bears $2.2 million of space.) • 2. Tell veterans they must take a pay cut. (I've heard Eugene Robinson created some cap space for the Falcons.) • 3. Extend the contracts of desirable veterans with a lot of signing bonus money, reducing the cap charges now in return for higher charges in the future. (Jessie Armstead of the Giants was to make $2.33 million in '99 and was under contract through 2002. Now he receives a $6 million bonus, extends his contract through 2005 and the Giants get $1 million extra cap space now.) If you think teams won't let proven veterans go for unproven rookies, think again. Last year these were the percentages of draft picks making active rosters, not because they were better players but because they fit under the cap a lot better: First Round: 100 percent It's a simple fact: Teams will use 95 percent of their rookie pool to sign draft picks and they will make the team. In the last two drafts, 83.5 percent of the picks made teams. Another critical point to remember is that rookies are captured at near-minimum salaries for three years and that makes the savings over one high-priced veteran astronomical. And, adding fuel to an already big fire, consider that there were 44 extra draft picks as compensation for veteran player movement and it's getting harder for veterans to hold on to their jobs. Right now clubs are trying to figure out what other clubs are going to do June 1, and they are hoping they can find a player or two from the cut list. Last year the Bears cut Bryan Cox and the Ravens cut Vinny Testaverde after June 1, much to the Jets' delight. What do teams do to get ready? Let's look at a few. Two days ago the New York Giants had about $400,000 of cap space. They extended Armstead and created $1 million of space. They need at least $1 million more, so we look at their roster. Safety Tito Wooten, who makes $1.1 million, is on a team with top '98 draft pick Shaun Williams and low-paid Sam Garnes. Teams consider Wooten a candidate for June 1 and are studying him right now. Denver has 12 draft picks and about $180,000 of cap space. How do they create space? John Elway's official retirement will come through after June 1 and give the Broncos only $400,000 of space. They took a defensive end, Montea Reagor, in the second round so Neil Smith's $2 million salary makes him a candidate. And finally let's look at Miami. The Dolphins moved out of the first round in the draft, saved valuable cap space and claimed to get the players they wanted in the second round in running backs James Johnson and Rob Konrad. With only $290,000 of cap space available, they have more to do. Richmond Webb has an expensive franchise tag worth $3.45 million, so a long-term deal with a big signing bonus could bring the Dolphins about $1.5 million or more in cap space. Still short, they could consider cutting a back like Jabbar who has a cap charge of $934,000. There are teams in much worse shape at this time, and while many people think this is the time of year that the coaches get some rest before the preseason camps get going, really it's the time of year the business of football gets going. Decisions these next two weeks will have quite a bit to do with wins and losses next December.
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