04-16-2019, 07:36 PM
I love history and it's time for a lesson.
Going back in time to to 1966, San Francisco 49ers star quarterback John Brodie received a contract pitch from the Houston Oilers: “We can set things up so that if you want to, all you’ll ever have to do is play golf and drink beer and gamble,” Oilers general manager Don Klosterman told him, according to the book America’s Game.
A better deal has never been made, well not until the quarterback booming salaries of today.
QB's accounted for the 14 largest salary cap hits in 2018.
Just seven years earlier in 2011, there were six QBs in the top 14.
Last year, Case Keenum had the same cap hit in 2018 as Houston defensive end J.J. Watt.
Really, it was the Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers that kick started it. The Grand Canyon couldn't fit his ego.
He doesn't care if the team is good, as long as he gets paid and gets to be "king for the day."
It's actually starting to cause bad tensions in some locker room's.
The problem with teams committing so much of their cap space to quarterbacks or even the top 2 players is that it is clearly an unsuccessful strategy.
None of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in 2018 by average salary Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, Garoppolo, and Matthew Stafford made the playoffs.
I know that it's overly simplistic to say that paying a quarterback a lot of money prohibits a team from being successful.
I know it's even a small sample size, but it’s very bad for team-building and devastating for a franchise if your highly paid quarterback doesn’t play like a superstar.
The problem is simple: The more you give to a quarterback, the less you give to everyone else.
Quarterbacks have been given huge extensions for years, but it turns out going all in on a cap-eating quarterback is one of the riskiest propositions in the sport.
Rising league revenues have pushed the salary cap from $123 million in 2013 to $177 million last year, giving teams more freedom.
There were also the draft changes, that lowered the cost of draft picks.
These changes have created unprecedented bargains.
Like with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes II is earning $3.7 million this year, making him the 400th-highest-paid player in the league.
There have been very bad consequences with these salary fluctuations is that NFL teams dump all but the top veterans once their rookie contracts are up. (This has had the added effect of lowering the average age of NFL players.)
Just as there are more bargains to be found in the draft, there is also more money to spend, and a salary floor that requires teams to spend it.
A lot of this money has gone to quarterbacks, and it has gone to their heads in some cases, which has created a disjointed, stunningly bad market for the position.
The real answer is that owners need to realize that they have other positions too.
Teams act out of fear with quarterbacks (does anyone want to have a Carson Palmer situation) and the truth is you cannot pay a middling starter like an elite guy.
Most of these quarterbacks just want to become "king for a day."
Carr was the highest paid for 15 minutes, then Stafford, then Ryan, then Rodgers, then Russell.
The reason we know that fear of the unknown is still motivating decision-making in NFL front offices is clear: No team in recent memory has willingly given up on a healthy starting quarterback without spending a high draft pick on the position or bringing in a high-priced replacement.
It is not news to say that you need to hit on draft picks, but it’s arguably more important than ever. Get it right, and you can stack many more expensive players.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in 2013 that if Tom Brady made “elite” quarterback money, the team wouldn’t have been able to build a contender.
Brady has taken less than his market value at basically every turn.
A team can pay a quarterback a lot of money and win at a high level, but it becomes nearly impossible to build the rest of the roster.
You'll hear fans all the time say, well if only these owners would build a better roster around the quarterback.
Or quarterback X plays well despite the players around them, but they also seem to fail to ask the question why can't they or don't they?
Because of these contracts.
The fact is that only one team, in the entire history of the NFL, has ever won the Super Bowl while having its two highest-paid players make more than 21.6 percent of the salary cap is the 49ers in 1994 with Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
Teams that spread the money around usually benefit with championships.
That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to trade up and get the "top players."
No team had a higher percentage of its cap tied up in rookie contracts than the Baltimore Ravens last year. The Colts were third. The Chargers were fourth. The Saints were seventh.
It is undoubtedly a smart team-building strategy.
However, before you assume it’s the only team-building strategy, note that the Patriots, one of the smartest teams in football, are … 32nd.
If you aren't scouting well for the 22nd pick in the first round then your not gonna be scouting well for the 1st pick in the draft.
The Patriots care more about how that player fits the mold or team strategy then name recognition.
Seahawks fans are welcome to say they won the day.
But if statics hold true, he'll never win another championship in his life.
Going back in time to to 1966, San Francisco 49ers star quarterback John Brodie received a contract pitch from the Houston Oilers: “We can set things up so that if you want to, all you’ll ever have to do is play golf and drink beer and gamble,” Oilers general manager Don Klosterman told him, according to the book America’s Game.
A better deal has never been made, well not until the quarterback booming salaries of today.
QB's accounted for the 14 largest salary cap hits in 2018.
Just seven years earlier in 2011, there were six QBs in the top 14.
Last year, Case Keenum had the same cap hit in 2018 as Houston defensive end J.J. Watt.
Really, it was the Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers that kick started it. The Grand Canyon couldn't fit his ego.
He doesn't care if the team is good, as long as he gets paid and gets to be "king for the day."
It's actually starting to cause bad tensions in some locker room's.
The problem with teams committing so much of their cap space to quarterbacks or even the top 2 players is that it is clearly an unsuccessful strategy.
None of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in 2018 by average salary Rodgers, Matt Ryan, Kirk Cousins, Garoppolo, and Matthew Stafford made the playoffs.
I know that it's overly simplistic to say that paying a quarterback a lot of money prohibits a team from being successful.
I know it's even a small sample size, but it’s very bad for team-building and devastating for a franchise if your highly paid quarterback doesn’t play like a superstar.
The problem is simple: The more you give to a quarterback, the less you give to everyone else.
Quarterbacks have been given huge extensions for years, but it turns out going all in on a cap-eating quarterback is one of the riskiest propositions in the sport.
Rising league revenues have pushed the salary cap from $123 million in 2013 to $177 million last year, giving teams more freedom.
There were also the draft changes, that lowered the cost of draft picks.
These changes have created unprecedented bargains.
Like with Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes II is earning $3.7 million this year, making him the 400th-highest-paid player in the league.
There have been very bad consequences with these salary fluctuations is that NFL teams dump all but the top veterans once their rookie contracts are up. (This has had the added effect of lowering the average age of NFL players.)
Just as there are more bargains to be found in the draft, there is also more money to spend, and a salary floor that requires teams to spend it.
A lot of this money has gone to quarterbacks, and it has gone to their heads in some cases, which has created a disjointed, stunningly bad market for the position.
The real answer is that owners need to realize that they have other positions too.
Teams act out of fear with quarterbacks (does anyone want to have a Carson Palmer situation) and the truth is you cannot pay a middling starter like an elite guy.
Most of these quarterbacks just want to become "king for a day."
Carr was the highest paid for 15 minutes, then Stafford, then Ryan, then Rodgers, then Russell.
The reason we know that fear of the unknown is still motivating decision-making in NFL front offices is clear: No team in recent memory has willingly given up on a healthy starting quarterback without spending a high draft pick on the position or bringing in a high-priced replacement.
It is not news to say that you need to hit on draft picks, but it’s arguably more important than ever. Get it right, and you can stack many more expensive players.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft said in 2013 that if Tom Brady made “elite” quarterback money, the team wouldn’t have been able to build a contender.
Brady has taken less than his market value at basically every turn.
A team can pay a quarterback a lot of money and win at a high level, but it becomes nearly impossible to build the rest of the roster.
You'll hear fans all the time say, well if only these owners would build a better roster around the quarterback.
Or quarterback X plays well despite the players around them, but they also seem to fail to ask the question why can't they or don't they?
Because of these contracts.
The fact is that only one team, in the entire history of the NFL, has ever won the Super Bowl while having its two highest-paid players make more than 21.6 percent of the salary cap is the 49ers in 1994 with Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
Teams that spread the money around usually benefit with championships.
That doesn't necessarily mean that you have to trade up and get the "top players."
No team had a higher percentage of its cap tied up in rookie contracts than the Baltimore Ravens last year. The Colts were third. The Chargers were fourth. The Saints were seventh.
It is undoubtedly a smart team-building strategy.
However, before you assume it’s the only team-building strategy, note that the Patriots, one of the smartest teams in football, are … 32nd.
If you aren't scouting well for the 22nd pick in the first round then your not gonna be scouting well for the 1st pick in the draft.
The Patriots care more about how that player fits the mold or team strategy then name recognition.
Seahawks fans are welcome to say they won the day.
But if statics hold true, he'll never win another championship in his life.
![[Image: i-8rLM4gw-M.jpg]](https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-8rLM4gw/0/a325f03c/M/i-8rLM4gw-M.jpg)
