NFL Owners Approve 6 Year CBA Extension

[Glenn]

Owners just broke off the talks.

There should be a ton of quality players cut today.

[Jethro34]

I heard "Killer" on "It Is What It Is" today and he shared some very interesting details.

First - don't be surprised if some 1st round picks sit out all year this year. They're expecting rookies will be the big winners next year however the cap shakes out and if guys in the draft know that (believe me, their agents will make sure they do) they may wait until then to sign their deal.

Second - the players have been looking forward to 2007 expecting tons of money. Killer says they were looking forward to false promises. He doesn't expect any kind of huge money to come their way. If it does, like he said, it will be rookies who benefit the most.

Third - the Lions are sitting pretty right now. So many big names are going to be out there that the teams under the cap will benefit greatly. It won't be a bidding war because it doesn't have to be. If a big name guy gets a big deal, there goes all that limited money on one guy, which means less money for the rest of the guys. He claims it is very realistic to think the Lions might be able to cut Harrington and get BOTH Brees and Griese for the price of Harrington. He also said things could look good with guys like Runyan, Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, a number of big names as potential additions in Detroit. In the past just one of these guys would have eaten up all the cap room, but with a tiny, finite amount of money in the market, these guys will have to take way less. He also said the Lions will likely make the minimum offers to their 4 RFA's, and probably get away with it due to the lack of spending money around the league.

[Vinny]

The NFL really has the players by the balls. The average NFL career is so short that 80% of the league can't afford to sit out too long and will likely approve a lesser deal just to ensure they don't lose too many of their earning years. They'll make all the right comments beforehand about how they have to make things right for the next generations and how they'll stand strong, but if it ever comes to the point that they're about to stop getting paychecks, they'll sign.

[Glenn]

I'm sure that I am looking at this too simplistically, but if the cap is going to come in about $13m lower than they expected, if you multiply that by 32 teams, that's $416 million in salaries that will be missing from the marketplace.

[WTFchris]

Long but interesting read. I bolded the high points if you want to skim those:

Killer WDFN Notes:

Dogs and cats, living together... mass hysteria
So what is going down with the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement? Tom Kowalski breaks it down, point-by-point, with Sean Baligian on Sports Radio 1130 Detroit. The players could lose money hand-over-fist if a deal isn't reached by 10 p.m., and the Lions are one of the few teams that will actually benefit since they are way under the salary cap. (In his blog, Kowalski says the players are out of their gourds if they don't come to an agreement.)

"It's a bad day for football fans."

Players don't even understand the magnitude of this deal. Players think money will flow like water in 2007's uncapped year, but there are number of poison pills that will hurt them in this deal. The Lions will offer four restricted free agents the minimum deals, whereas in recent years they would've gotten a quality offer. The Lions know there's no money in the league, that not only will no one go after unrestricted free agents -- no one is going to touch RFAs. "The money's just getting squeezed now, and I don't think the players understand that."

"I'm telling you, it's going to be a lot like the NHL where after they realize how close they were to making a lot of money, and now they're getting way less, they're going to be really upset," Killer says.

Baligian says in the NHL everyone knew the owners had to do something, they had no money. In the NFL there's money pouring in. Tom says the owners are not just going to give it away. In the past the players got 65 percent of "Designated Gross Revenues," that doesn't include some stadium income like suites and naming rights. Players now want "Total Football Revenue." They want 60 percent of that, and the NFL wants them to get 56.2 percent of that. What players don't understand is that owners like Ford put $300 million of his own money into the stadium. He makes the investment, and they had nothing to do with it. Players didn't put anything into it, but they want something out of it.

The difference between 56 and 60 is a LOT of money. If they players stay firm on wanting 60 percent, Tom believes that in 2008 there'll be a work stoppage. "There's no way the NFL's going to continue without a salary cap." There would be guys like Dan Snyder who will spend $250 million on a roster and destroy the league. The NFL's popularity is now built upon parity. There'll be a work stoppage because of this fight. If they don't get the deal done tonight, we're headed down uncharted waters and it'll be a mess.

Baligian asks if parity is such a bad thing? Kowalski says it's not just parity, it's financial balance where everyone can make money. The NFL players are not paid on the same level as NBA and MLB guys, but you'll never have guaranteed contracts in the NFL. Not in a sport where you lose so many players to injury. "Everybody will go bankrupt if they do that." What you want is free agency, and it's worked by-and-large.

When they go into 2007 uncapped, many think players will be making all this money. The only players making the money are the free agents, and there won't really be many of those because of a trigger that changes when a player can become a free agent. Now it's after their fourth year, the "new" rules would be a sixth year. Guys like Roy Williams will have to wait two more years. Not only that, but teams get two franchise or transition tags they can use to limit movement, as opposed to only one now. And many teams now choose not to use a tag because they can't fit the new salary under the cap. With no cap, why would anyone not use those tags? Every team will retain their two best free agents automatically.

Kowalski expands on the new free agency rules. If you have to wait six years to be eligible for free agency, instead of four, there will be a lot of rookies who sit out the year and wait until next year. The only good thing about an uncapped year is that rookies will make all the money. There are no restrictions on them. They have got to make their money when they can because they can't go to free agency for another six years. Why would Vince Young and Matt Leinart take a lousy four year deal, when next year they can take all the money they want?

Sean asks if this means the Raiders, Dolphins, Chiefs, Titans, Redskins, Broncos, Panthers, Falcons, and more teams that will be over the cap in some capacity to just to start slashing and burning their rosters to get under? Tom says yes. But, they extended the deadline from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. Expect teams to wait until the last possible second, hoping that a deal gets done. The NFL doesn't want teams cutting players at 8 p.m. and a deal gets done by 9:30. The real hard drastic trimming of big stars won't happen until the very last second. They'll try to put it off as long as possible, hoping something will get done.

Tom says the cap would go from $94.5 million now to $105-108 million immediately if they took the deal on the table. Most of those guys would not only not be cut, they could rework their deals for more money and years because of the four-year free agency rules.

After the NHL debacle, you see the art of negotiation is to get all that you can, when you can't squeeze anymore you take what you can and run with it. "I hope the players union is smart enough (to do that)." Tom believes if the owners are presented with 57 or 58 percent they may take it. They have a lot to lose, too. They don't want to see this deal die. The union has to come off that 60 percent number.

Baligian says this whole deal should bode well for teams under the salary cap the Vikings, Cardinals, Browns, and even the Lions. Kowalski says yes, it does. The Lions operated under a budget thinking that the cap would be $92 or $93 million. So the Lions are $12-13 million under right now. If there's no CBA extension, the Lions should be one of the teams that goes after Drew Brees really hard. First, there aren't many teams that can bid on him. Second, because of the restricted competition his asking price should come down.

Tom ponders -- if you could bring in Drew Brees and Brian Griese under the same price as Joey Harrington? Would you do it in this scenario? The Lions may have to make that decision. Also, do you continue to tender Jeff Backus if a Jon Runyan is out there? There will be high profile guys available. Do you make a run at Simeon Rice and Derrick Brooks even if they're here for one year? They have some great years left in them, and they already know Marinelli's system. These are not the old rules! The Lions may think this is time to make some moves.

Matt Dery asks if Simeon Rice will come to Detroit because he's in love with Marinelli? Tom plugs the transcript and video of Rice's interview on the NFL Network. He's an interesting guy, and he has some baggage, but these guys will come for less money anyway. There won't be much money out there available. Even if you can pay it, you dont' have to because there isn't much competition for these guys. "These salaries are going to come way down, and I think the players better to be braced for it."

Sean says he expects Tom to report tomorrow the Lions sign Randy Moss, Sam Madison, Priest Holmes, Steve McNair, and Clinton Portis. Tom says don't forget Drew Brees, Will Shields, Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, and Adam Viniteri.

March 2, MLive.com: Because the Lions have operating room under the cap, they're expected to make a run at a couple of high-profile free agents. And San Diego Chargers quarterback Drew Brees could be among them.

The Lions are in a unique position to go after a player like Brees because some of the teams they'd be bidding against aren't in position to compete. The Miami Dolphins, for instance, were $21 million over the cap on Wednesday night and were scrambling to get under the cap.

The report that the Lions are fine is welcome news to Lions fans, but there are more questions that loom. Killer hit the forum to answer your questions. Here's this morning's Q&A with Kowalski.

electriclion: Do you think we are headed for a similar situation the NHL had, in that when all is said and done the players are going to be angery at their leadership for not taking one of the deals that was already on the table?
TomKowalski: I think we're headed in that ... direction ... but i'm still hoping they come to their senses ... upshaw standing firm at 60 is stupid ... if they're only going to give 57 or 58, you take what you can ... once the union does that, i believe the owners will get together and settle their issues ... that's my hope ...

kevinjones1: Cap violations explained So...what happens if a team goes over the Salary Cap? Here's the answer, from Al Lackner of the site "Ask the Commish."

Answer: The short answer is simply that NO team CAN go over the Salary Cap. Note that every contract must go through the NFL League Office before the deal can be made official. Presumably, one of the things the league must do at this time is determine whether or not the contract would violate the NFL's Salary Cap. If the deal does violate the cap, then the NFL will reject it.

There have been instances in which a team has managed to sneak a cap evading contract by the league. Upon further review, the violations were caught by the league and the respective teams were penalized. Penalties include fines and/or forfeiture of draft picks. In recent history both the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers have been penalized draft picks, while the 49ers' front office personnel (Carmen Policy and Dwight Clark) were also fined.

TomKowalski: More specifically ... in the event that a team is over the cap on march 3 (they didn't have to be under before then), the penalties are severe ... first, any team over the cap cannot sign ANY player or participate in the draft ... if the team lingers in staying over the cap and then finally gets under it, they could have ALL of their draft picks taken away ... and, on top of that, there are major-league fines that can be levied ...

Bayern: Is there any talk that the Lions will take the franchise tag off of Backus if more top flight offensive linemen become available?
TomKowalski: Not yet, but ... i will refer you to a recent quote by matt millen, who wasn't talking about any player in particular -- "we will do whatever it takes to make this team better.'' ... if there's a slew of high quality players coming available, and the price is right, all bets are off ... that's why the lions suddenly find themselves in the drew brees chase ...

Pudgethefish: TOM: You said teams are likely to move slowly because of all this CBA stuff. Does that mean teams won't even invite free agents in to visit? It seems to me that regardless of the monetary issues, showing real interest in a player early on is still a good way to start negotiations. Am I way off on this train of thought or will there be no activity at all???
TomKowalski: No, you're right ... i suspect there will still be a lot of visits, but i don't see much going on beyond that ...

rickguy45: Tom: safe to assume... that Harrington will not be restructuring his contract if the CBA isn't extended, or a new one signed?
TomKowalski: Here's the thing ... it's not harrington that doesn't want to renegotiate, it's the lions ... they've been pretty good about not pushing money into future years when they don't have to ... and the current cba situation really doesn't affect harrington because he only has two years left ...

Millennoclue: Tom-How will this affect the draft? If a CBA is not reached, will this have any effect on the draft? Underclassmen wait untill next year?
TomKowalski: There could be a lot of players who sit out ... so, if the cba doesn't get extended today, don't get too hyped about hawk, huff or anybody else ...

Zoboa: Tom: Sal Cap room Is the 10-12 million in salary cap room over and above what it will take to tender the RFAs and the money that will go toward the rookie pool? Or will the approx $3 million for RFAs and $4 million for Rookie pool still have to come off that?
TomKowalski: My guess ... is that the cap will be down to about $10 million after the lions tender their restricted free agents today ...

[H1Man]

Questions and answers about the NFL labor talks

The sudden change in the climate of labor negotiations between the NFL and the players' association, and the sudden flurry of player cuts, has left many fans with questions. Fortunately, ESPN.com has answers.

What is the primary issue?
The deadline to extend the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) had been scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday, March 3. However, the league and the players' union mutually agreed late Thursday to extend that deadline by 72 hours, to Monday, March 6, at 12:01 a.m. This is merely the negotiating period to extend the CBA. The CBA itself does not expire until after the 2007 season.

Why is that deadline important?
That deadline represents the beginning of the new NFL fiscal year. Teams had been working under a deadline of 10 p.m. ET Thursday to come into compliance with the salary cap, a six-hour reprieve from the original 4 p.m. ET deadline. However, Thursday's delay in the start of the new league year also pushed back the deadline for teams to release players and clear their salaries from the books. Teams now have until 6 p.m. ET Sunday to get under the 2006 cap limit.

Could the negotiating deadline be extended again?
Once thought unlikely, a further delay in the start of the new fiscal year is certainly possible given Thursday's developments. Pushing back the start of free agency gives the league and the union more time to work on an extension, and in the event an extension still can't be reached, gives teams more time to come into compliance with the 2006 cap.

If the sides are unable to agree on an extension, though, some teams will have to release some very significant players in order to clear cap room. The 2005 cap was $85.5 million, and teams were anticipating a 2006 cap of around $102 million with an extension to the CBA. However, the actual 2006 cap is going to be $94.5 million, which has some teams scrambling to comply.

If an extension is reached, what happens to players already released for cap purposes?
A high-level source with one NFL team told ESPN.com the league has informed teams that any player placed on waivers during this period of uncertainty can be recalled from waivers until there is more clarity about the pending free-agency period.

What happens if a team doesn't comply with the salary cap?
No team has ever gone over the salary cap, so this is a bit of an unknown. However, teams have been fined in the past for attempts to circumvent the cap. ESPN.com contributor and former Miami Dolphins GM Rick Spielman says NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has wide latitude in fining teams -- and even individual team executives -- or stripping draft picks for failure to comply with the salary cap.

With some teams in dire cap shape, we could see sooner than later just how wide the commissioner's latitude is. The Washington Redskins are one team to watch in this regard, since some other clubs that have studied the Redskins' cap closely have suggested Washington cannot mathematically get into compliance.

Will any of this affect 2006 free agency?
Aside from the player pool growing rapidly as teams cut players to comply with the cap, the biggest change in the free-agency landscape a lack of an extension will bring is that teams only will be able to prorate signing bonuses over four years, rather than seven, meaning players seeking large bonuses could be disappointed. And since base salaries can increase by a maximum of only 30 percent per year, the huge contracts we've seen recently (Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, for example) are likely a thing of the past. In short, it will be difficult, and in some cases impossible, to meet players' financial expectations.

Will any of this affect the 2006 season?
Only to the extent that some teams could look remarkably different heading into training camp than they did at the end of the 2005 season. But the current CBA actually has two more years to run (2006 and 2007), so if there is going to be a work stoppage at all, it's not likely to happen until 2008.

What happens if there is no extension to the current CBA?
Without an extension, the final season of the current CBA (2007) will be an uncapped season, meaning teams would have no limit on the amount of money they could spend on players.

Given the potential absence of a salary cap in 2007, some 2006 free agents might be unwilling to sign long-term contracts, figuring they could earn even more in the uncapped 2007. And NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw has said once the salary cap goes away, the players aren't going to accept its return. Also, while unlikely, the potential exists that the owners could lock the players out in 2008. That is one reason the NFLPA will consider decertifying.

How will free agency be different in 2007?
Currently, players hit restricted free agency after three years and unrestricted free agency after four years. Without an extension to the CBA, players won't be eligible for unrestricted free agency until after their sixth year. Players whose contracts end after third, fourth and fifth seasons will be considered restricted free agents and subject to qualifying offers from their current teams.

Does an uncapped season also mean there's no salary minimum?
Yes. Currently, there is a salary minimum, as well as a salary cap. Every team must allocate a certain minimum amount to player salaries. However, when the salary cap goes away, so does the salary floor. Teams could choose not to spend a dime.

What happens to players' benefits (401k plans, health coverage, etc.)?
In an uncapped 2007, owners no longer will be responsible for their annual payments of about $13 million apiece to 401k plans, health coverage, life insurance and other programs under the umbrella of benefits. The NFL matches each player's 401k investments 2-for-1.

How does all of this affect the 2006 NFL draft?
Signing draft choices will be more difficult this year, because teams can prorate signing bonuses over only four seasons. Already, agents figure the most a top draft choice can make under that scenario is $15 million, a major reduction from recent years. That likely will lead to long holdouts by draft choices.

What are the long-term ramifications for the league?
Barring a new CBA, the players either will be on strike or the owners will lock out the players in 2008. The union likely will decertify, and antitrust rules will apply. Also, the NFL draft will go away in 2008 as part of a clause inserted into the current CBA. Players coming out of college could be free agents, with no salary restrictions. Open negotiations, including those for rookies coming out of college, will leave it to the players to get what they can get.

What are the long-term ramifications for the players?
If the union does decertify, it will cause a lot of uncertainty for the players. Teams could change the benefits package players receive, and there would be no organization to protect players' interests. Teams could offer salaries well below the currently established minimums.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2351462

[Glenn]

Thread title changed to reflect recent developments.

This is getting really interesting.

The players seem united, they all want more money.

The owners, on the other hand, seem to each have their own agendas here (haves v. have nots). If you listen to guys like Jerry Jones, they sound like they'd almost prefer that no settlement be reached so they can get to that cap free season next year.

[Fool]

I haven't said anything in this thread, but I'm definately following it. Keep up the good work fellas.

[Black Dynamite]

Thread title changed to reflect recent developments.

This is getting really interesting.

The players seem united, they all want more money.

The owners, on the other hand, seem to each have their own agendas here (haves v. have nots). If you listen to guys like Jerry Jones, they sound like they'd almost prefer that no settlement be reached so they can get to that cap free season next year.

Jerry Jones would build the next super bowl dynasty cowboys along with the niners being ressurected if that happens.

[Jethro34]

While this makes it interesting, it also makes it more frustrating for those of us waiting for speculation on who the Lions will be courting. Not like they'll finish better than 5-11, but I've gotta have my fix!