"Salary cap crunch"

[Whatever]

(03-05-2021, 09:31 PM)SErebel11 Wrote: Unless I am mistaking when a player restructures their deal to help the team, the player gets salary turned into bonus money and generally has enough leverage to get some more guaranteed money out of the team in some cases. I could be completely wrong but I do feel like for a team like the Bengals and other teams, it could make a lot of sense to backload a couple of midtier free agents. A guy like Zeitler is a better bet due to his history and position but I also feel like if 9M for 3 seasons is the number then that might be a bit rich. It would make more sense for a guy like Gabe Jackson if his best offers are 1yr/5-6 M to go 2 years and guarantee both with a bonus spread out. Sure there is some risk there but it isn't much different than some of these teams having to restructure multiple deals just to get under this years cap and kicking the can down the road. I would argue that this is a better way just because you would likely be closer to paying what the actual and current market value for the player is.

I think players like Jurrell Casey, Suh, etc looking for 1yr/8-10 million are the ones the will struggle the most because that is dollar to dollar cap hit for the team signing them. But again I could be incorrect.

Thing is, the NFL is closing in on another broadcasting deal which will drive the 2022 cap even higher.  Now, guys coming off their rookie deals that need that long term security will take big money multi year deals, but vets like Zeitler and Jackson who have that kind of security are going to want to hit FA when the cap inflates, which means a one year deal.  A lot of your B and C tier FA's that don't get big money multi year offers will bet on themselves and sign one year deals to try and get more money next year, too.

Another factor is there are teams that are simply crippled right now.  The Saints are like $60 mil over the cap right now.  Their only choice is to dump a ton of players and their best option is probably to trade everyone they can and stock up on draft picks and cap room for next year and tank the season for draft position.  Literally 1/4 of the league is over the cap right now.