Three years ago.

[fredtoast]

(11-11-2021, 01:55 AM)Shake n Blake Wrote: The salary cap was $75 million in 2003.
It's $182 million now.

We gave Thornton a 6 year, $22.5 million contract ($3.75 million average)
We gave Hardy a 4 year, $14 million contract ($3.5 million average)
We gave Tory a 4 year, $14.4 million contract ($3.6 million average)

By today's standards, that would be like signing 3 guys for $8.5 to $9 million each.

We also signed:

Reggie Kelly for 4 years, $6.6 million ($4.0 million average today)
Duane Clemons for 2 years, $2.18 million ($2.8 million average today)

And that was just year one. Not even looking at the guys we signed and traded for in 2004, which included Deltha (5 years, $8.5 million), Kim Herring (5 years, $11.3 million), and several other players that I don't feel like looking up because I'm getting bored.

It was a similar splurge, and unprecedented at the time.

Thornton ($9.1) + Hardy ($8.5) + James ($8.7) + Kelly ($4.0) + Clemmons ($2.8) + Herring ($5.5) + O'Neal ($4.1) + Nate Webster ($5.4) = $48.1

Hendrickson ($15.0) + Trae Waynes ($14.0) + Reader ($13.3M) + Riley Reiff ($7.5M) + Awuzie ($7.3M) + Ogunjobi ($6.2 M) + Bell ($6.0) + Hilton ($6.0) = $75.3

Not even in the same ballpark. Almost an extra $30 million per year.