Posted on 04/27/2024 3:30:21 AM PDT by srmanuel
If your first question is, what the heck is a Guardian Cap don’t feel bad because I asked the same question - it’s a padded outer shell worn over a normal helmet and is meant to cut down on concussions. In practice this might be a good idea but in games it makes the player’s head look enormous and also makes them look ridiculous IMO. Football is a violent contract sport that a lot of people love, making the players look ridiculous is going to be bad for the sport. Since this is voluntary this year it will be interesting to see how many players actually wear them
“Football is a brutal contact sport played by grown men...”
And that’s the more important part of the problem. Every Friday and Saturday night across the country thousands of high school and college players walk into this problem. And concussions don’t always heal correctly let alone knees or necks.
...injuries are part of the game and yet people line up to play it and playing it in the NFL is their dream...
People do things for a number a reasons, some really stupid. Did you know that the prison system in the US is capable of holding around 1.9 million yet they are overcrowded.
And, it seems, the major reason for these guys to play the sport is money because that’s what lures them. A way to look at this is by looking at the wages. Special teams are at the bottom of the salary list, averaging $2.775 million each player. The second-lowest paid players are the running backs, to many’s surprise. But both are expendable thus throw away. But where can a person go who has no future except possibly crime to make that amount of money? And as long as the money is there, they will line up to get there. But the only way to get there is being “badder” than the guy next to you. There are only 1696 slots on a pro football fielding team and thousands going after them. Good odds? They’re gambling their bodies to try. And that unfortunatley starts in youth football.
“What’s next, putting protective headgear on UFC fighters or professional boxers.”
You’ll notice they use them in training. If it wasn’t danerous, then they wouldn’t need them. But the money is too great to walk away from. And there are thousands of club fighters all over the US that will never get to be Ali. And when he passed, he was nothing more than a vegetable and that’s been confirmed as three neurologists who provided direct care to the boxing legend describe evidence in a JAMA Neurology viewpoint supporting a primary diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson’s disease over a form of dementia from repetitive head trauma. Wanna be held responsible for this in kids? For many, this is what the money will buy.
wy69
“Football is a brutal contact sport played by grown men...”
And that’s the more important part of the problem. Every Friday and Saturday night across the country thousands of high school and college players walk into this problem. And concussions don’t always heal correctly let alone knees or necks.
...injuries are part of the game and yet people line up to play it and playing it in the NFL is their dream...
People do things for a number a reasons, some really stupid. Did you know that the prison system in the US is capable of holding around 1.9 million yet they are overcrowded.
And, it seems, the major reason for these guys to play the sport is money because that’s what lures them. A way to look at this is by looking at the wages. Special teams are at the bottom of the salary list, averaging $2.775 million each player. The second-lowest paid players are the running backs, to many’s surprise. But both are expendable thus throw away. But where can a person go who has no future except possibly crime to make that amount of money? And as long as the money is there, they will line up to get there. But the only way to get there is being “badder” than the guy next to you. There are only 1696 slots on a pro football fielding team and thousands going after them. Good odds? They’re gambling their bodies to try. And that unfortunatley starts in youth football.
“What’s next, putting protective headgear on UFC fighters or professional boxers.”
You’ll notice they use them in training. If it wasn’t danerous, then they wouldn’t need them. But the money is too great to walk away from. And there are thousands of club fighters all over the US that will never get to be Ali. And when he passed, he was nothing more than a vegetable and that’s been confirmed as three neurologists who provided direct care to the boxing legend describe evidence in a JAMA Neurology viewpoint supporting a primary diagnosis of young-onset Parkinson’s disease over a form of dementia from repetitive head trauma. Wanna be held responsible for this in kids? For many, this is what the money will buy.
wy69
A lot more women watchers now.
The NFL salary cap in 2023 was 224.8 million, they’re 53 players on the active roster in the NFL, making the average salary over 4 million per player, but that’s skewed because established QBs make 40-50 million per player.
Nearly ever sport played at the highest level involves some degree of injury risk, it’s impossible to protect everyone from everything, players know the risks going into the game.
The idea they might go into crime if they don’t make it in the NFL or get injured and lose the NFL spot is simply not correct, often they get degrees and go into coaching at some level like HS or some other career field.
Grown men willing to risk injury to compete at the highest level is born into some people, why do we have men who are willing to go into special forces in the military for far less money than professional sports.
thanks for the pic. looks almost “Tron”-like.
Hilarious.
The NFL salary cap in 2023 was 224.8 million...
Caps are not what they seem, they constantly change.
As an example, in Jalen Hurts’ $251 million extension with the Eagles, the first- and second-year cap numbers are $6.15 million and $13.5 million. Those are cap percentages of roughly $2.8% and 5.7%, shockingly low percentages for a star quarterback on a veteran contract. Of course, the cap numbers and percentages rise significantly in later years, but the future structure of the deal also prevents high cap numbers and percentages. The Eagles used a structure with team options that push out cap proration into dummy void years that will never materialize. Thus, the cap percentages for Hurts in this contract are alarmingly low for a player of his stature.
There is a difference in cap versus cash. NFL teams have now several people paid to manage their cap books. They may choose management strategies that are team-friendly early and team-unfriendly late or more balanced. Cap can be easily moved around by a first-year NFL cap manager as much as an experienced one. The point is that it can be managed.
So on paper the cap may look high in comparison to what is really being paid. And teams never tell the public what the contracts actually are since they are based on numbers that may never exist long term and the players never get to it due to injury or retirement. Magic Johnson in the NBA had an initial contract of $25M over 25 years. He didn’t play that long so the cap was never in danger.
Let’s change sports for second. Let’s look at the NY Yankees baseball team. While Steinbrenner was alive, the Yankees went over cap almost every year. And to get the top notched players he was willing to spend the cash to get them. But the Yankees normally mde the playoffs and had their own television network beside contracts and when they went over cap, they easily made enough money to pay the fines the public never saw, just heard about. And the owners are not going to clamp down on them as they are making the money for the whole league in the long run. More than one way to skin the cat.
wy69
The NFL cap is exactly what it seems, the NFL has a hard cap, yes the cap changes from year to year, based on NFL revenue, the cap has steadily increased over the years because due primarily to the increase in TV rights fees.
The NFL also shares revenue amongst teams, meaning every team gets and equal slice of the TV deals, which is why a team in Green Bay can effectively compete against teams in Dallas and NY.
The NFL also has a rookie contract slotting system that based on your draft position pretty much guarantees how much you will be paid, that’s why the 49ers with a 7th round pick at QB can afford so many other top tier players because their QB is making less than 1 million per year versus the KC chiefs where Mahomes makes around 50 million per year.
The other main difference in the NFL is their contracts are not guaranteed, except for the signing bonuses, versus MLB and NBA contracts that are guaranteed.
The NFL amortizes signing bonuses over life of the contract so a 20-million-dollar bonus over a 5 year contract averages to 4 million per year in cap space, combined with the salary for that year equals the cap hit for that player, that’s the reason Jalen Hurt in your example counts so little in year 1 and 2.
MLB teams like the Yankees can exceed the salary cap, if they do, they pay a tax into a fund that gets distributed to lower revenue teams like Tampa Bay.
“MLB teams like the Yankees can exceed the salary cap...”
One example of cap adjustment is:
A team may carry over salary cap space from one league year to the following league year by submitting notice to the NFL prior to 4 p.m. EDT on the day following the team’s final regular-season game. A team can carry over 100 percent of its remaining 2023 room to its adjusted salary cap for 2024.
https://www.wkrg.com/sports/ap-nfl-free-agency-explained-from-salary-cap-and-tampering-to-franchise-and-transition-tags/#:~:text=A%20team%20may%20carry%20over,team‘s%20final%20regular%2Dseason%20game.
You mentioned hard cap. That is a ghost. NFL teams cannot exceed the salary cap. All clubs must be under the cap by the start of each new league year. In 2023, the league year began on March 13.
However, it’s critical to remember that the NFL salary cap is simply a ledger. While it is a hard cap, it’s designed to be exploited. Teams can deploy various mechanisms to push money into the future and create more space in the present.
A few examples are :
Signing bonuses are prorated over the life of the contract or five years (whichever is shorter). Although the player receives his cash instantly, his team won’t feel the financial impact immediately.
Teams can restructure contracts to open up more cap space. By converting base salaries (the money a player receives for playing each week during the season) into proratable signing bonuses, clubs can create additional cap space in the short term.
Many teams are often over the cap during the offseason and until the new league year begins. Increasing salaries, prorated signing bonuses, and “dead money” — salary cap space devoted to players no longer on a team’s roster — can add up and force a club over the cap. Those can be corrected easily.
To get under the cap by the beginning of the new league year, teams often have to release some players, trade others, or rework contracts to lower the current season’s cap charges. And there is always a undesignated player pool of men out there that would sign short contracts to get a job, even on the taxi squads. And there is always the waiver list which is in it’s way, a dibs list until someone claims then they are taken off and someone, or more than someone, will go on it to cover the imaginary elusive money on the ledger.
In a nutshell, they are only working with current cap charge needs and covering it with future investment. And there is always a undesignated player pool of men out there that would sign short contracts to get a job, even on the taxi squads. Then they might be released when the other players are reinstated. This one was big concerning the IL and it’s many different useages.
It’s a gmae within a game. Windmills of the acountant’s minds.
wy69
“MLB teams like the Yankees can exceed the salary cap...”
One example of cap adjustment is:
A team may carry over salary cap space from one league year to the following league year by submitting notice to the NFL prior to 4 p.m. EDT on the day following the team’s final regular-season game. A team can carry over 100 percent of its remaining 2023 room to its adjusted salary cap for 2024.
https://www.wkrg.com/sports/ap-nfl-free-agency-explained-from-salary-cap-and-tampering-to-franchise-and-transition-tags/#:~:text=A%20team%20may%20carry%20over,team‘s%20final%20regular%2Dseason%20game.
You mentioned hard cap. That is a ghost. NFL teams cannot exceed the salary cap. All clubs must be under the cap by the start of each new league year. In 2023, the league year began on March 13.
However, it’s critical to remember that the NFL salary cap is simply a ledger. While it is a hard cap, it’s designed to be exploited. Teams can deploy various mechanisms to push money into the future and create more space in the present.
A few examples are :
Signing bonuses are prorated over the life of the contract or five years (whichever is shorter). Although the player receives his cash instantly, his team won’t feel the financial impact immediately.
Teams can restructure contracts to open up more cap space. By converting base salaries (the money a player receives for playing each week during the season) into proratable signing bonuses, clubs can create additional cap space in the short term.
Many teams are often over the cap during the offseason and until the new league year begins. Increasing salaries, prorated signing bonuses, and “dead money” — salary cap space devoted to players no longer on a team’s roster — can add up and force a club over the cap. Those can be corrected easily.
To get under the cap by the beginning of the new league year, teams often have to release some players, trade others, or rework contracts to lower the current season’s cap charges. And there is always a undesignated player pool of men out there that would sign short contracts to get a job, even on the taxi squads. And there is always the waiver list which is in it’s way, a dibs list until someone claims then they are taken off and someone, or more than someone, will go on it to cover the imaginary elusive money on the ledger.
In a nutshell, they are only working with current cap charge needs and covering it with future investment. And there is always a undesignated player pool of men out there that would sign short contracts to get a job, even on the taxi squads. Then they might be released when the other players are reinstated. This one was big concerning the IL and it’s many different useages.
It’s a gmae within a game. Windmills of the acountant’s minds.
wy69
Correct, except that squirrels have developed an immunity for them.
Your comment caused me to do some quick research and that's what I found.
On top of that the rules are just so complicated. Who can tell what's going on?
As someone who played both in high school I think the nuisances and baseball are much more intricate, especially today with all the analytics involved
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