Ton's of Free Agents this offseason

[Doublejive]

There is many teams that are dealing with personnel on teams this off season which imo is going to lower the asking price many players will get,plus the influx due to the new rules with rookies we are going to see a huge draft class.

The game is changing.

Thoughts?

 

[cdumler7]

Well I would say the middle-tier Free Agents are going to be hurt in some of this but the upper tier guys will still get their paydays. Last year was a great showing of that in what a couple of years ago was say Corners getting close to $10 million a year guys of equal talent this past off season got closer to $5 million. You just don't see the huge contracts as often these days that just throw the whole market out of wack like in years past. Teams are able to afford keeping more of their own home grown talent with the rookie contracts so if a player wants to get a big deal it is usually with the team they are with.

 

[NinerSickness]

There is many teams that are dealing with personnel on teams this off season which imo is going to lower the asking price many players will get---

Thoughts?

I think you're off base. Free agents will get more than they've gotten in the past. Not less.

As the salary cap keeps going up so goes the players' salaries.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I saw a list of the free agents for this off-season and wow, it is one hell of an incredible class. If a team is looking to improve quickly they will have a lot of luck in the free agent market this year. It is a good year for teams to have a lot of cap space to spend. Unfortunately, as a Seahawks fan our biggest concern is retaining the guys we've got, not spending on new ones.

 

[Clayton]

Unfortunately, as a Seahawks fan our biggest concern is retaining the guys we've got, not spending on new ones.

The NFC West has been mostly built through the draft. Its why it is where it is.

Seattle does have to look at its DE position

 

[seahawksfan234]

The NFC West has been mostly built through the draft. Its why it is where it is.

Seattle does have to look at its DE position

We have Cliff Avril on a two year contract and have shifted Michael Bennett around from DE to DT on passing downs and he has been massively effective this year. Bennett is a FA that the Seahawks must retain, he is by far the most underrated player on our defense and has made a huge impact for us this year.

Chris Clemons could be a cap casualty, he has not been the same since his injury. The Seahawks had a pretty good pass rush from their front 4 this year though, so I'm not sure it is a huge concern.

The Seahawks need to focus on OL and WR in the off-season.

 

[Clayton]

Bennett is a FA that the Seahawks must retain, he is by far the most underrated player on our defense and has made a huge impact for us this year.

I would go as far as to say that he is your 3rd most important player on defense. He good.

 

[Davis_Mike]

I think you're off base. Free agents will get more than they've gotten in the past. Not less.

As the salary cap keeps going up so goes the players' salaries.

The salary cap has been semi-stagnant since the new CBA. It would have been far worse had there been no sign-off on the cap penalties for Dal, Wash, & Oak. Last offseason there a lot more bargains for mid tier FA(s) than there were in the past.

Just look at Sea, SF, & AZ to see that they all signed very good mid tier FA(s) in the last offseason to short term value contracts. And most of those guys out performed those contracts.

The top end FA(s) are always going to get top dollar. But it's the older or mid tier FA(s) that are being affected by the market correction due to the new CBA.

 

[NinerSickness]

The salary cap has been semi-stagnant since the new CBA.

I don't know what you mean by semi-stagnant, but the salary cap has gone up every year since its inception. It hasn't gone up by much the last 2 years, but it certainly hasn't gone down. And that's the only way salaries go down: if the salary cap does. You'll continue to see salaries go higher. How long do you expect Joe Flacco to be the highest-paid QB in the NFL?

I don't even know if they've calculated the 2014 salary cap yet. Have they?

 

[Davis_Mike]

I don't know what you mean by semi-stagnant, but the salary cap has gone up every year since its inception. It hasn't gone up by much the last 2 years, but it certainly hasn't gone down. And that's the only way salaries go down: if the salary cap does. You'll continue to see salaries go higher. How long do you expect Joe Flacco to be the highest-paid QB in the NFL?

I don't even know if they've calculated the 2014 salary cap yet. Have they?

The salary cap hasn't gone up every season since it's inception. From 2009 to 2011 we saw a decrease in the cap amount.

This is the salary cap over the last 10 seasons;

Year Maximum Team Salary
2013 $123 million[14]
2012 $120.6 million
2011 $120 million
2010 Uncapped
2009 $123 million
2008 $116 million
2007 $109 million
2006 $102 million
2005 $85.5 million
2004 $80.582 million

Can you see a slow semi-stagnant trend in the last few season compared to before the lockout? Yes the cap has slightly increased but only the elite guys at the top & QB(s) have benefited from the relatively smaller increases in the cap. The rest of the players have not benefited from the small increase & have actually been affected negatively. The new CBA is directly responsible for this.

The projected cap is $126.3 million for the 2014 league year. The official number won't be out til closer to the new league year in March.

 

[NinerSickness]

The salary cap hasn't gone up every season since it's inception. From 2009 to 2011 we saw a decrease in the cap amount.

This is the salary cap over the last 10 seasons;



Can you see a slow semi-stagnant trend in the last few season compared to before the lockout? Yes the cap has slightly increased but only the elite guys at the top & QB(s) have benefited from the relatively smaller increases in the cap. The rest of the players have not benefited from the small increase & have actually been affected negatively. The new CBA is directly responsible for this.

The projected cap is $126.3 million for the 2014 league year. The official number won't be out til closer to the new league year in March.

I stand corrected. It did go down by 3 million in those years.

But since it's probably going up again so will the salaries. Look at the money Jay Cutler & Flacco got. Aaron Rodgers is going to get a ton more than that.

Players like like AJ Green, Patrick Peterson, JJ Watt, Aldon Smith, etc will demand to be the highest-paid players in the game, and they'll get it. And that'll be the new bar by which all other players are appraised.

 

[Davis_Mike]

Like I said earlier, "only the elite guys at the top & QB(s) have benefited". The rest of the players are not seeing the the "trickle down" & are being affected negatively. Is this good or bad? Who knows? For players not in the top 5%, this has to be a negative for them. Signing shorter contracts or for less value. But for teams who have competent GM(s) who know how to draft & sign quality FA(s) to fill small holes on their team, the current system is "golden" for them. It is now easier to sigh very good veteran players to short term contracts for less money than it was 3 years ago.

I much prefer the current system in place than the ones previous to the latest CBA. The money is flowing closer to the players that deserve it rather than unproven rookies or middle of the road players.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Like I said earlier, "only the elite guys at the top & QB(s) have benefited". The rest of the players are not seeing the the "trickle down" & are being affected negatively. Is this good or bad? Who knows? For players not in the top 5%, this has to be a negative for them. Signing shorter contracts or for less value. But for teams who have competent GM(s) who know how to draft & sign quality FA(s) to fill small holes on their team, the current system is "golden" for them. It is now easier to sigh very good veteran players to short term contracts for less money than it was 3 years ago.

Bingo!

 

[NinerSickness]

Like I said earlier, "only the elite guys at the top & QB(s) have benefited". The rest of the players are not seeing the the "trickle down" & are being affected negatively. Is this good or bad? Who knows? For players not in the top 5%, this has to be a negative for them. Signing shorter contracts or for less value. But for teams who have competent GM(s) who know how to draft & sign quality FA(s) to fill small holes on their team, the current system is "golden" for them. It is now easier to sigh very good veteran players to short term contracts for less money than it was 3 years ago.

I much prefer the current system in place than the ones previous to the latest CBA. The money is flowing closer to the players that deserve it rather than unproven rookies or middle of the road players.

It's the Lebron James phenomenon. Teams with a great QB are like 100 times more likely to win a QB than teams with a mediocre one, so they put everything into the QB & cut corners on other positions. They want to get a few stars & surround 'em with guys from the draft they hope can compliment 'em well.

But the average price of players hasn't gone down, and it's not going to.

 

[Davis_Mike]

You are missing the point.

The average player's salary is a misleading number. The reason it is so is because it figures in all the salaries. I would be willing to bet that if you took out the QB, the top 5% salaries, & the wage minimum & compared the the median wages of the rest of the players in 2013 compared to 2010, you would not see an increase. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a decrease.

If only the QB(s) & the guys at the top are seeing a wage increase, it really doesn't matter if the NFL salary average has increased.

 

[NinerSickness]

You are missing the point.

The average player's salary is a misleading number. The reason it is so is because it figures in all the salaries. I would be willing to bet that if you took out the QB, the top 5% salaries, & the wage minimum & compared the the median wages of the rest of the players in 2013 compared to 2010, you would not see an increase. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a decrease.

If only the QB(s) & the guys at the top are seeing a wage increase, it really doesn't matter if the NFL salary average has increased.

No, I realize what you're saying. You think the mean salary for NFL players is going down.

We had this discussion on the Niners' forum last offseason, but nobody was able to provide statistics on the mean salary of NFL players by year. So I disregarded the argument until someone could actually show whether it's true or not.

This isn't something subjective; it can be proven or disproven if someone has the data.

 

[Davis_Mike]

This isn't something subjective; it can be proven or disproven if someone has the data.

Considering the amount of time it would take someone to compile those numbers for each season over the last 5 seasons, so I doubt you will see anyone post the data.

Here are the only numbers I can find without doing too much digging:

Median annual salary
2009 - $790,000
2010 -
2011 - $770,000
2012 - $790,000
2013 -

Without all the data, that still looks pretty stagnant to me.

 

[cdumler7]

Well I think the corner position is a great place to start. Couple of years ago a starting caliber above average corner was getting a $10 million a year contract like that of Dallas' Carr. This past off Sarandon above average corners only got one or two year deals worth close to $5 million like DRC or Talib. Again the top tier guys still get paid but anybody not in that category seems to be getting only 2 year deals tops with pretty average salary.

 

[NinerSickness]

Considering the amount of time it would take someone to compile those numbers for each season over the last 5 seasons, so I doubt you will see anyone post the data.

Here are the only numbers I can find without doing too much digging:

Median annual salary
2009 - $790,000
2010 -
2011 - $770,000
2012 - $790,000
2013 -

Without all the data, that still looks pretty stagnant to me.

Looks almost exactly like what the salary cap did. It slightly dipped after 2009 & then recovered.

Seems to me the average & mean salaries both go as the overall cap goes. Unless someone can disprove that argument with more data of course.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

No, I realize what you're saying. You think the mean salary for NFL players is going down.

We had this discussion on the Niners' forum last offseason, but nobody was able to provide statistics on the mean salary of NFL players by year. So I disregarded the argument until someone could actually show whether it's true or not.

This isn't something subjective; it can be proven or disproven if someone has the data.

Seems like common sense that if teams are over paying their top players ( or those they thought were their top players) the players below them are going to make less. A three million bump up hardly makes up for some of these massive contracts.

For example, next year Flacco cap hit goes up $8 million, a three million increase in the cap will only help a little. To break it down a little better.

These are his cap hits.
2013) $6,800,000
2014) $14,800,000

2016) $28,550,000
2017) $31,150,000

Barring a huge jump in the cap, Ravens are going have find cheap players to stay under the cap. This is typical of what a lot of teams face. So the top money winner gets a bigger slice of the pie and the rest smaller slices.