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Can a small-market, low payroll NFL team win a Super Bowl?


Championshiporbust

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Tell me, what team in the last 20 years is most known for not only signing high priced, name free agents but also for signing many free agents and making a splash early in the FA period? It's Washington. Hasn't helped them much, has it. And what team always has players wanting to go there for an exciting city to live in and no state taxes? Miami. See Washington.

Prudent use of free agency, getting the right couple of players at the right time, is very important. But no team has much of an advantage over any other. Only a couple, like the Patriots, have a big advantage in players wanting to go there to win (and for all that, FA's aren't the biggest factor in the Patriots' dominance). And only a couple, like my Lions, have a big disadvantage with top-shelf players not wanting to go there. But we all know that's got nothing to do with market size or payroll. It's because of good, or bad, organization and leadership.

Edited by Superduperman
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On 5/22/2020 at 4:52 AM, DannyB said:

I guess, but I'm not sure how this affects what the OP was talking about. Like, how it fits into the equation. It's not like the Patriots spent out of their ears the entire time.

And I feel like Belichick the GM gets overrated due to Belichick the coach. Bill Belichick is NOT a great GM. He's alright.

I agree he's a great Coach knows the game all around especially hearing he speak on players when they did the "greatest NFL players" special on the NFL Network , I'm not a Dallas fan (die-hard steelers fan) but even I will acknowledge how much of a beast Emmitt Smith was not just reading the defense or running but he can block and catch the ball....he gets alot of flack thou and Belicheck saw it like I did even some Dallas fans won't 

 

But as a GM I don't know his last few drafts were odd...they usually don't plan out but the later round picks do 

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On 5/21/2020 at 2:43 PM, Daniel said:

And Kansas City won the last one.

I do think this is the interesting case study between baseball and football.

Pretend for a second that the NFL worked like MLB in terms of how teams are allowed to spend money. A team like the Cowboys, Patriots or Giants would be offering Mahomes an absurd amount of money that the Chiefs realistically couldn't come close to matching. Look at what happened with the KC Royals just a few years ago as an example of how small market teams can't sustain success for more than a handful of years.

Even though baseball is my first love in terms of sports I just don't understand how fans of big market baseball teams can claim that the current system is fair with a straight face. It's so ridiculously unfair that it's laughable. 

 

Edited by Bolts223
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I mean outside or NE and the NYG in the past 20 years the NFL has been ruled by small markets. Seattle, Pittsburgh, Denver, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Green Bay, New Orleans and recently Kansas City 

Which is also why the NFL is far and away the best pro sports league

 

Edited by AkronsWitness
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There’s a salary cap. Also it wouldn’t matter. The richest owner is the Panthers followed by the Rams and then the Cowboys and Jaguars are tied.

Not only does the cap invalidate it, some of the richest teams would be small market.

Also we’ve seen Green Bay, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, Pittsburgh account for 6 in the last 20 years. Meanwhile Denver, Philadelphia, Baltimore,  aren’t the flashiest cities either and they account for 4 more. 

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On 5/21/2020 at 3:08 PM, Championshiporbust said:

Can it be done? Or does it have to be superstar, flashy Boston/L.A./N.Y/Dallas style?

It cannot be done. The NFL won't allow that for rating purposes. Jacksonville being blatantly robbed in 2017's Championship "loss" to New England was pretty evident. Only one penalty for 10 yards was called against New England in that game.

Meanwhile we saw some shady stuff going on with the refs and New England and some horrible calls made the Myles Jack wasn't down play, the mugging of Lewis in the 2nd half in the passing game. A converted 3rd and long before half time that was negated by a false start while they allowed the entire play to roll out. 

Pretty horrible officiating. I even remember Boomer commenting during half time about the fact that Jacksonville would have to play against the refs in that game after Bouye was flagged for a bogus P.I call on a way over thrown football that was completely uncatchable. 

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I'll bite.

I will write this from the point of view of a Ravens fan and use the AFC North as my example. Starting with the worst and not getting into crazy cap numbers.

Cincinnati: they are currently in the toilet. I understand they drafted Joe Burrow, but historically Mike Brown the owner is cheap. They have shoddy training facilities and field a network of relations as their front office and scouting department. They attained some level of success with Marvin Lewis, but he couldn't win big games in playoffs. Now they are mid rebuild. From where I sit, it isn't a place free agents are dying to play.

Cleveland: the .500 pre-season paper champs. They are the AFC version of the Redskins who on paper claim they are going to a Super Bowl every year before a down is played. Take that away, they do pay their players. They do draft some REALLY great players. Unfortunately most franchises are reflections of their owners. Jimmy Haslam has not been the model of stability. It seems he clears house far too often to maintain a culture. No bash on the Browns, but it is a culture of losing. They celebrate their long suffering so much it is a part of their identity. As a city, Cleveland is great, win or lose you are embraced. No reason to not sign, money is there, just not sure if winning big is in the cards.

Pittsburgh: They would rate higher were it not for all the Ben, AB, Bell drama that really seemed to derail a very talented and successful team. I despise them, but I have a lot of respect for their owner, their front office, and their head coach. This is a well run organization. My only gripe is I feel like they don't do enough in free agency. I feel like my team has dodged a lot of bullets over the years by players they did not sign. Perhaps it is wise and the frugal nature lets them keep more homegrown talent than not. AB and Bell aside, they needed to go. I also think they hung on the Ben a little longer than they should have, he has taken quite a beating over the years. All that said, free agents that do sign there, (last year being an aberration) look to have a solid city, a top tier owner and top tier organization.

Baltimore: They draft exceptionally well. They have had their scrapes with bad P.R., Ray Lewis, Ray Rice and may not have handled these perfectly, but they got through them. They are sometimes overgenrous with their wallet that sometimes lands them in Cap Hell. Their training facility is top dollar. They don't call it the castle for nothing. Anywhere outside of the tourist areas of Baltimore are dangerous. It is a rough city. But DC is a 40 minute drive and there are a lot of cool spots in Maryland, so the money and appeal to win are there. Free agents will get paid and like the Steelers, you have a legit shot at a title playing there.

How does this answer the original question? Cincinnati has the least shot among these four teams because they are cheap. The other three have great things going for them besides money. Cincinnati doesn't poney up enough and their upside is so low compared to the other three, I feel like they are a small market team doomed to live in the shadow of the others.

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