Franchise Tag Question

[Big Valley]

Any 'reports' on who the Texans FO use this on? OD, Demeco, etc.

Also, is Bernard Pollard a restricted FA this offseason?

TIA

[Goatcheese]

All of the above are RFA.

Texans (7): safety John Busing, tackle Rashad Butler, tight end Owen Daniels, runing back Ryan Moats, safety Bernard Pollard, linebacker DeMeco Ryans, center Chris White.

http://www.texanstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=68358

[El Tejano]

It would be hard not to use the FT on OD. Coming off the injury and all.

[gtexan02]

It depends if we get an uncapped year. If we do, we won't need to use the Franchise tag on most of those players

[SheTexan]

Question from a football dummy. What's an "uncapped" year and how do you know if you get it or not. I really don't understand that. Help an old lady out!!

Thanks!

[Section516]

I want them happy and re-signed, maybe not OD depending on how his rehab goes. Meco deserves it. Flat out, deserves it.

Oh, and if we can get DR on a decent contract for his play level, then I'd like him back. Less than what we offered him last year.

We don't want a rep of screwing our players. Meco made $1,576,720 this year. He deserves more

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by SheTexan

Question from a football dummy. What's an "uncapped" year and how do you know if you get it or not. I really don't understand that. Help an old lady out!!

Thanks!

The league's CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) currently dictates that teams work under the constraints of a salary cap. The salary cap essentially means that teams have to spend between $XXM and $XXXM per year on their roster. I believe that number this year was ~$80M - ~$120M, though I could certainly be wrong on that. The goal of such a system is to create a level playing field for the "haves" and the "have nots." This is why you hear the NFL lauded for its "parity"; you don't have teams like the Yankees or Red Sox that can come in and outbid everybody for the best free agents and teams like the Royals and Marlins not competing by implementing ridiculously low budgets.

Well, the CBA expires after this season, which means that, unless it is extended by the deadline (March, IIRC), the salary cap will no longer exist. This will put a number of changes in motion. One of those changes, obviously, is the ability of the "haves" (i.e. Dan Snyder, Jerry Jones, and even Bob McNair) to outbid the "have nots" for free agents. Another change, which you're starting to see mentioned a lot, is the extension in RFA time.

Under the existing CBA, players not under contract become UFA (Unrestricted Free Agents) after their fourth year in the league. Under this scenario, players like DeMeco, OD, and Bernard Pollard would become UFA after this season. But, if the CBA is not extended, RFA (Restricted Free Agency) extends from 4 to 6 years. That would mean that players not under contract would not be eligible for UFA until after their 6th season (2011 for the aforementioned players).

Hopefully that helps clear some of it up for you.

[SheTexan]

It does Nero, THANKS!

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

Under the existing CBA, players not under contract become UFA (Unrestricted Free Agents) after their fourth year in the league. Under this scenario, players like DeMeco, OD, and Bernard Pollard would become UFA after this season. But, if the CBA is not extended, RFA (Restricted Free Agency) extends from 4 to 6 years. That would mean that players not under contract would not be eligible for UFA until after their 6th season (2011 for the aforementioned players).

Hopefully that helps clear some of it up for you.

SheTexan - to follow up as you can see uncapped doesn't mean unregulated. There are also going to be multiple franchise tags available this year and restrictions on playoff and Super Bowl teams signing free agents. I think you are going to see very little significant FA movement this off-season. The possible exception to that may be under-performing big contracts. Teams that signed a giant 7 year contract 1-2 years ago and the guy hasn't performed may get dumped because the cap charge won't matter. That could also result in more trades. You might see teams restructure or differently structure contracts for guys like Mario or DeMeco to get money paid out in the uncapped year so it doesn't get prorated into the cap when they get a new CBA done.

[nero THE zero]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

That could also result in more trades.

This is an aspect I hadn't thought of. Being that there's no cap, the things that made trading so cumbersome in the past are no longer in place, so we could certainly see more trades involving players, and more trades involving big name players.

Do you really think the league could go from an uncapped year, back to a cap, i'cak? From everything I've read, neither side is confident once the league goes uncapped that it could ever revert back to a cap.

[infantrycak]

Originally Posted by nero THE zero

Do you really think the league could go from an uncapped year, back to a cap, i'cak? From everything I've read, neither side is confident once the league goes uncapped that it could ever revert back to a cap.

Yeah I think they will and one of the big reasons why is all the limitations we have been talking about. The Dan Snyders and Jerry Jones of the world aren't going to be able to buy everyone else's players. Sure a few RFA's will get egregious offer sheets but the draft picks involved will self-limit that. Now franchise tags mean big dollars but that becomes relatively less important without franchising Peppers meaning it is going to take up 20% of your cap and again sure someone could offer a franchised stupid money but the draft pick compensation puts a limit on that. It will be interesting to see who gets dumped. For example without the cap ramifications we probably would have dumped Weaver a couple years earlier. There were rumors about San Diego dumping LT last year. Guys 2-4 years into high priced 6-7 year 2nd contracts.

[SheTexan]

Just curious. Are they still talking about putting a cap on rookies? Seems like I read something about that last year, but, haven't heard anything about it since. Maybe it was just wishful thinking.

[infantrycak]

Yes there have been some reports that doing something with rookie contracts is a high priority for the owners.

[Pantherstang84]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

Yes there have been some reports that doing something with rookie contracts is a high priority for the owners.

As they should.

[badboy]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

SheTexan - to follow up as you can see uncapped doesn't mean unregulated. There are also going to be multiple franchise tags available this year and restrictions on playoff and Super Bowl teams signing free agents. I think you are going to see very little significant FA movement this off-season. The possible exception to that may be under-performing big contracts. Teams that signed a giant 7 year contract 1-2 years ago and the guy hasn't performed may get dumped because the cap charge won't matter. That could also result in more trades. You might see teams restructure or differently structure contracts for guys like Mario or DeMeco to get money paid out in the uncapped year so it doesn't get prorated into the cap when they get a new CBA done.

I think with the cap guru that Texans signed from NFL, we might see a bit of this. McNair should be able to re-structure future year salaries to benefit team. He has already cleared up a lot of previous bad contracts. I think you are correct on the free agent front also.

[barrett]

Originally Posted by infantrycak

Yes there have been some reports that doing something with rookie contracts is a high priority for the owners.

Originally Posted by Pantherstang84

As they should.

Eric Winston provided some very interesting takes on some of the arguments both for and against the wage scale. In the end, his basic assessment is that the wage scale doesn't take money away from the veterans. The owners should be able to control their spending. There is a already a certain amount of money that is allotted for the rookie draft picks. It has no bearing on how much the teams can spend on veteran players if I understand it correctly.

http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_Rooki...idgetId=171476

Give this a read. It's pretty interesting.

[PhilpW]

from: http://www.gbnreport.com/index.htm

CBA contract talks resume; rookie cap on agenda … A rookie wage scale is among the major topics the NFL and the players union are expected to discuss in labor negotiations which resume later this morning. The NFLPA has reportedly presented a proposal to the owners that would include reducing the money paid to rookies and shifting it to veterans' contracts instead. The union plan reportedly would have a scale or cap for how much rookies would be paid. Reducing the sometimes potentially cap-killing contracts rookies, especially those taken early in the draft, reportedly is one of the primary goals in the owners’ agenda. If the owners and NFLPA can not agree on a new CBA the 2010 will be an uncapped season.