I have this dream that one day Steelers fans will cease from looking at a players Salary Cap figure, conclude that figure is what he makes that season and then decide if his play meets that figure’s worth.
Alas, it will probably never happen. Most fans do not understand the NFL salary cap and most who have no understanding, also have no desire to gain one. And that’s ok. However, if you are going to take a hard stance on player worth, you should know what goes into a Player’s Cap Charge.
Take for example the most recent target of many Steelers fans’ perceptions of NFL contracts and their cap implications: Lawrence Timmons. Timmons IS NOT scheduled to make $15 million plus in 2016, contrary to what many believe. His total compensation will be $8.75 million. That’s still a lot, but it’s right in line with the other top ILBs in the league as you can see below in a screen shot table from Over The Cap that differentiates Cap Figure from Cash Expenditure for 2016.
I should first explain that the annual cap figure for a player consists of his base salary, plus any bonuses due, plus any bonus proration scheduled to be accounted for in that given year. It’s understanding how bonus proration works and how it is applied that is key to understanding how teams manipulate their cap each season.
A player is not going to willingly agree to push his earnings into a future year when he can be cut at any time and end up having to forfeit those earnings. In order to create space teams use accounting loopholes put in place by the CBA. Key among them is bonus proration.
If you have no desire to know why $8,381,250 of Timmons’ past (this is the key and operative word) earnings count on the 2015 salary cap, stop reading. But, if you do have a desire to know how NFL contracts are frequently structured and restructured to “kick the can down the road”, read on. It should be pretty simple to understand by the end of this. Read the rest of this entry »
2015 Steelers Rookies visit Pro Football Hall of Fame
Unfortunately, the Steelers neglected to identify the rooks by name and I’m not sure who most of them are. I can pick out Bud Dupree, Senquez Golson, and Jesse James, and that’s about it. Perhaps the Steelers didn’t name them as part of a policy of personal humility, like boot camp or frosh hazing. In any case, it’s good to see the young bucks getting a taste for the potential fruits of the challenges that lie ahead and instilling an appreciation of the broad shoulders upon which they hope to perch.
This is a video tribute ripped from Youtube, with the lousy rap video track removed and replaced with L’Estasi Dell’oro by Ennio Morricone. This is sitting on our server so be patient while it downloads. Hopefully it will work reasonably well. Aside from being an awesome tune for a highlight reel, it could not be a more appropriate title for a Steelers reel.
H/T to The Wolf for putting the song in my head. It’s from “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” (AKA, the Steelers, the Browns, and the Ravens).
And so ends another season in less than perfect fashion. The glass is not half full, but it’s a long way from empty, and closer to half full than the last two years combined.
Let us be grateful for the many positives of the 2014 edition of the Steelers. Here are some of them off the top of my head.
The Steelers reclaimed the division crown.
Despite the above, the Steelers will have better draft positioning than the Ravens and possibly the Bengals.
The offense has grown to the brink of greatness and has not yet peaked.
Elements of the defense solidified although much work remains to be done.
One Hairball is gone from the league.
Although they won, the Ravens continue to suck. Suggs is still butt ugly and stupid as dirt.
Andy Dalton… enough said.
The Factory of Sadness remains the destination where high draft picks go to die, and Comedy Central of the NFL.
We are one year closer to the end of Tom Brady’s career. Please, god, let it happen soon.
Please add your positives. There will be plenty of time for whining and hand-wringing later.
Looking for the Twitter feeds? Sorry, they have been removed. Now that Elon Musk has thoroughly murdered Twitter, those feeds no longer function properly. They were also dragging down the performance of the site.
