27 replies to this topic

[Dadonkadonk]

Has anyone else gotten the feeling the owners are getting the best of the players in this year's FA bonanza?  I think only Wallace and Levitre have gotten over the top deals.  Krueger and Ellerbee got big but not gigantic contracts.  Everyone else seems to be settling for lesser deals or have no deals at all.  Two years for Avril and Welker?  I think the early negotiating period hurt the players.  It gave the owners a chance to see what the market was for guys and hold firm on salaries.

[Hammered a Lot]

Nope

[Marauder'sMicro]

There aren't any big name free agents.

[ExWNYer]

Make the right decision...insist on Carubba Collusion. Oh, wait...never mind.

[BigCountryBills]

ExWNYer, on 17 March 2013 - 12:50 AM, said:

Make the right decision...insist on Carubba Collusion. Oh, wait...never mind.

Momma Pecoraro endorses Carubba.

[n3wyork13]

Teams spent 774 million on the first 25 players in free agency and NONE of them are Tier 1 Free agents. They are all quality players, most of them have been back ups, or 2 down players. Espically coming from Baltimore. Mike Wallace would be an exception...but thats debatable.

[cantankerous]

The players make more than a fair amount. They should consider themselves lucky.

[jcbillsfan]

The players finally understand that a 4 year 30 million dollars deal with 7 million in guarentees is not better the a one year 5 million dollar contract.

[mrags]

n3wyork13, on 17 March 2013 - 04:19 AM, said:

Teams spent 774 million on the first 25 players in free agency and NONE of them are Tier 1 Free agents. They are all quality players, most of them have been back ups, or 2 down players. Espically coming from Baltimore. Mike Wallace would be an exception...but thats debatable.

ok. 2 things. First ill agree, but I'd like to see the numbers for previous years to compare. Sounds high, but also sounds like last year would have blown this out of the water.

[CSBill]

Dadonkadonk, on 17 March 2013 - 12:15 AM, said:

Has anyone else gotten the feeling the owners are getting the best of the players in this year's FA bonanza?  I think only Wallace and Levitre have gotten over the top deals.  Krueger and Ellerbee got big but not gigantic contracts.  Everyone else seems to be settling for lesser deals or have no deals at all.  Two years for Avril and Welker?  I think the early negotiating period hurt the players.  It gave the owners a chance to see what the market was for guys and hold firm on salaries.

No, I think its just that there are not any top tier players.

[RealityCheck]

Considering how close to the cap most teams are, this is a non-issue. If there were franchise QBs available then spending would be different. For every new QB that gets a big contract, there is that much less to spend on the other positions. QB salary trends and the 90% of the cap rule doesn't leave much room for big contracts on above average players.

[machine gun kelly]

No, this is like saying the refs are against the Bills by some blown calls.  It's called paranoia.  What is more likely is the reason the owners are winnign out on most deals is they are owners, and smart business men.  These free agents have mistakenly thought they would keep getting more and more money, and took bad advice from their agents as they are looking for a payday.

The cap was flat for the most part this year, and now free agents are getting less than expected and older guys instead of staying on good teams by taking a paycut will end up with less on a worse team with short term deals as noone wants to risk money on bodies that are breaking down.

The good news for us is we are waiting I think for the big money to be spent by others and now we'll start plugging a few guys in by the draft at a much lower price.  We may even get an oder guy or two to plug in holes for short term relief.  I'm not crazy about this idea as I'd prefer younger role players who will be there fro depth once we hopefully hit on the next three drafts.  The Patriots can afford to bring in a couple of older guys as they cut them if they don't like them, and they ahve a core nucleus.

[Nanker]

That's not where the collusion is.
Look at the Victor Cruz situation and ask, "Why isn't someone with two #1 picks (Rams) or a team with a low-round #1 pick (Seahawks, Packers, Texans, Broncos, NE*, Falcons, 49ers, Ravens) don't give the Jints their #1 for Cruz?"
This would not happen in Baseball.

[Snorom]

$700 million, $300 million in guaranteed money distributed to the top 25 players in FA this year, whom between them have a total of 6 probowls.

Sounds to me free agency is the new 1st round rookie contract debacle wrapped up in a new bow

2nd tier and 3rd tier FA prices are coming down fast

[Captain Hindsight]

Nanker, on 17 March 2013 - 07:11 AM, said:

That's not where the collusion is.
Look at the Victor Cruz situation and ask, "Why isn't someone with two #1 picks (Rams) or a team with a low-round #1 pick (Seahawks, Packers, Texans, Broncos, NE*, Falcons, 49ers, Ravens) don't give the Jints their #1 for Cruz?"
This would not happen in Baseball.

Maybe Cruz doesnt want to leave

[BRAWNDO]

I do not think there has been any collusion, but some of the national beat writers have sent out tweets asking how the new CBA is working for the NFLPA.

[Nanker]

Captain Hindsight, on 17 March 2013 - 08:27 AM, said:

Maybe Cruz doesnt want to leave

Right.

[Beerball]

Nanker, on 17 March 2013 - 07:11 AM, said:

That's not where the collusion is.
Look at the Victor Cruz situation and ask, "Why isn't someone with two #1 picks (Rams) or a team with a low-round #1 pick (Seahawks, Packers, Texans, Broncos, NE*, Falcons, 49ers, Ravens) don't give the Jints their #1 for Cruz?"
This would not happen in Baseball.

Draft picks don't mean squatney in baseball. Teams have 326 rounds to draft their future and then they wait years while a fraction make their way through the minor leagues.

[Nanker]

Beerball, on 17 March 2013 - 08:44 AM, said:

Draft picks don't mean squatney in baseball. Teams have 326 rounds to draft their future and then they wait years while a fraction make their way through the minor leagues.

Wasn't speaking directly draft-to-draft values. More about free agency itself. It seems to some that the League allows teams to use the tags to prevent FAs from making a deal with another team in a free market. There's an unspoken rule that you don't sign another team's tagged player - even if you have the need, and the resources to do it. That's all.

[Beerball]

Nanker, on 17 March 2013 - 08:50 AM, said:

Wasn't speaking directly draft-to-draft values. More about free agency itself. It seems to some that the League allows teams to use the tags to prevent FAs from making a deal with another team in a free market. There's an unspoken rule that you don't sign another team's tagged player - even if you have the need, and the resources to do it. That's all.

Gotcha. Maybe that's why the Bills didn't tender Nelson, they knew there would be no offers and they didn't want him back.

Still, draft picks are very valuable in the NFL and teams don't toss them around like baseballers do.