http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap20...t-on-longterm-deal?campaign=twitter_atl_patra Where do the Saints get all of this money?
Not a bad deal. Kind of split the baby between the top WRs and TEs. Just read Vernon Davis is going to hold out with 2 years left--he got $42.7 mill over 6 years but he might have gotten more guaranteed than Graham. _
Based on average salary he would be tied for 7th highest paid WR. Seems everyone is holding out in San Fran. Alex Boone (rated as the third best guard in the NFL in 2013 by PFF) is also holding out. They see what Kaep got and now they are all jealous.
That question always gets asked about teams that end up in cap hell a year or two later. This is a bigger contract than I expected him to get and does set a precedent on the surface, but let's see the details of the contract. Everybody thought Kaep was getting a gaudy contract before they found out it was a smart contract. But NO really looks like they are loading up for a run. Probably trying to make the most of Brees' prime while it lasts.
Saints are already in cap hell that's the thing. The Byrd deal was great for the Saints because he's only owed 3.5 in 2014. http://overthecap.com/teamcap.php?Team=Saints&Year=2014 Est. Salary Cap Space: $1,570,821 Mickey Loomis is a genius, I guess signing the long-term deal opened up cap space from the Franchise Tag.
A team isn't in cap hell unless they're like 10-15 mil over the cap. Yeah, removing the F tag and signing him long term means that they opened up 1.5mil in space for this year and loaded the salary into future years. Hence, cap hell in a year or two, unless they really slammed the last year of the contract with a cap cost.
Saints appear to be in cap hell in 2015 at this point. $141M on the cap already without including Graham's new deal, so at least $145M with it, probably more. A few vets have $7-8M dollar salaries next year so there is room for restructuring but Brees has a huge salary and a huge cap number and they'll all take their cues from him.
10 or 15? Do we really have to tie a specific number to it? If the cap is severely affecting the way they do business then I would assume yes, they are entering the gates of hell. All of the restructuring and cutting of players by the Saints. Loomis has done a good job though. At the beginning of the off-season, they were actually about $12 million over the cap.
The tightends in the league are generally screwed because of the franchise tag. Graham deserves more but he was fighting a losing battle because of the ruling. The franchise tag is based off of the top 5 players at that position, correct? well what if the top 5 players are all unpaid? (it would be like every starting QB in the league getting franchised, so that means the top 5 QB salaries would all be backup salaries, therefore the franchise tag price would be nothing).
Well, what if trees could scream? Would we be so cavalier about cutting them down? We might, if they screamed all the time, for no good reason.
You seem to have been tying a specific cap number to it when you decided that the Saints were in cap hell being a couple of million over it, before the franchise tag was removed from Graham. Apparently you believe a specific number matters.
The Saints will be fine though, as long as Brees can play at a high level. I am not sure they can win another Super Bowl though, I think they blew it big time when they lost that game to the 49ers. They would have steam rolled the Giants in the NFC Championship and would have beaten the Patriots in the Super Bowl.
I'm not looking to really tie a specific number to determine if a team is in cap hell or not. Of course numbers play a role. I don't disagree. Look at the Steelers for example - they have been in cap hell for years now (ever since the Big Ben pay-day). They have been cutting players, restructuring players like no one's business. Right now they are 6M below the cap but it's still an ugly situation in Pittsburgh.
10M a year seems fair for both Graham and the Saints.. I'm still surprised they let go of Sproles if they do intend on making a run now..
Pierre Thomas is a very good and versatile back, he actually was a better pass catcher than Sproles last year. And they just drafted Cooks so I think they'll be good.
Thomas is no where near the pass catcher that Sproles is. The Saints really reduced Sproles role as year went on, which i can only attribute to being banged up. In limited work, he still looked explosive. On a side note, i had the misfortune of having both guys in fantasy football, and couldn't really trust playing either of them, despite being solid talents on a great offensive team. lol frustrating, but i digress.. They dealt Sproles before drafting Cooks, so that wasn't a reason why they parted ways. I agree Cooks should fit in very well there, albeit in a slightly different role than Sproles. Cooks will be on my fantasy radar this year as well, as we get some points for kick returns.
