the free agent frenzy 2021 - a thread to discuss what teams with money are doing with it

[VonKarman]

8 minutes ago, incognito_man said:

there's zero chance that Z, Preston and Lowry play in 2022 under their combined cap hit of $55 million.  Things change so much year-to-year it's easy to keep kicking cans 1 year at a time in today's league.

I agree. We will restructure Kenny's contract for sure, Lowry will be cut and other movements will be made. However, we are in that situation with only 29 people signed for 2022, so we still have to be somewhat careful.

Edited March 20, 2021 by VonKarman

[Striker]

1 minute ago, VonKarman said:

It's not that we are afraid of the dead cap hit. It's that we do not have cap space for this year AND next year.

The only way to sign someone right now is to add void years to contracts(my guess is that they are holding on Rodgers restructure for the draft+PS as the Packers would lose all leverage when trying to resign Adams/Z). We will probably do it, but for that we need the player's permission.

This. It looks like, based on spotrac, that the Packers are already at -4.2M projected next year (assuming they pick up Jaire's fifth year option). And that's not including a potential Adams extension.

[Chili]

Maybe Rodgers and Adams are refusing to go along with anything and since they have all the leverage there's not much the front office can do about it.

I felt the right thing to do was to cut Preston Smith since we've already have Gary. I was mildly surprised when we chose just to make a pay cut. The only other cut candidate is Lowry but that would severely harm our DL depth and won't create much cap relief anyway.

Maybe the plan really is just this simple,

1.] retain our players  - mostly done.

2.] and wait for the FA market to die down and pick off the scraps.

3.] draft new talent.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Chili

[Packerraymond]

8 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

It's not that we are afraid of the dead cap hit. It's that we do not have cap space for this year AND next year.

The only way to sign someone right now is to add void years to contracts(my guess is that they are holding on Rodgers restructure for the draft+PS as the Packers would lose all leverage when trying to resign Adams/Z). We will probably do it, but for that we need the player's permission.

And next year we can extend Z, maybe Preston, extend Jaire to lower that cap hit, work some more money with Rodgers into 2023, cut Lowry, probably move some money around Adams, Bakh and Clark's new deals....if the Chiefs signing Mahomes to half a billion told you anything, it's to stop fearing the cap...it's not hard to manipulate.

[TransientTexan]

39 minutes ago, {Family Ghost} said:

It's amazing how successful this franchise has been despite being fairly inept at utilizing the free agent market.  Thompson came up short most years in free agency .. Gute struck gold in the market a couple years ago with four quality starters in Z, P, Amos and Turner.  Last year was bargain fill in time and it kind of worked, but not the kind of moves that put you over the top.  There's still some serious help out there, but it doesn't appear that the Packers are willing to take the plunge to improve this roster. 

There is this thing called the salary cap. 
 

and there is not 2 separate salary caps, one for your own players you are re-signing, and another for “outside” free agents. Use of free agency is often an indicator of poor drafting 4yr before. 

[Packerraymond]

7 minutes ago, Chili said:

Maybe Rodgers and Adams are refusing to go along with anything and since they have all the leverage there's not much the front office can do about it.

I felt the right thing to do was to cut Preston Smith since we've already have Gary. I was mildly surprised when we chose just to make a pay cut. The only other cut candidate is Lowry but that would severely harm our DL depth and won't create much cap relief anyway.

Maybe the plan really is just this simple,

1.] retain our players  - mostly done.

2.] and wait for the FA market to die down and pick off the scraps.

3.] draft new talent.

I highly doubt those two are placing money ahead of championships, I just cannot see that whatsoever.

[incognito_man]

Just now, Packerraymond said:

I highly doubt those two are placing money ahead of championships, I just cannot see that whatsoever.

I think 98% of players place money ahead of championships. Or, at a minimum, do so while convincing themselves otherwise.

[Packerraymond]

1 minute ago, incognito_man said:

I think 98% of players place money ahead of championships. Or, at a minimum, do so while convincing themselves otherwise.

For the first contract I agree. Rodgers is set up for generations, Adams probably 2-3 generations, both are on the backside of their careers too, think that's when the mindset changes a bit.

 

[{Family Ghost}]

1 minute ago, incognito_man said:

I think 98% of players place money ahead of championships. Or, at a minimum, do so while convincing themselves otherwise.

If Rodgers or Adams was holding up the show there would be some 'leaks' about it.  The Packers are probably the culprits because they want to straddle fence with Rodgers contract .. even after and MVP season.  They want that 'out' in his contract in case Love shows he's the future. 

[incognito_man]

Just now, {Family Ghost} said:

If Rodgers or Adams was holding up the show there would be some 'leaks' about it.  The Packers are probably the culprits because they want to straddle fence with Rodgers contract .. even after and MVP season.  They want that 'out' in his contract in case Love shows he's the future. 

You think there's more likely to be leaks from the FO than from the players' agents? I have to disagree 1000%...

[VonKarman]

3 minutes ago, Packerraymond said:

And next year we can extend Z, maybe Preston, extend Jaire to lower that cap hit, work some more money with Rodgers into 2023, cut Lowry, probably move some money around Adams, Bakh and Clark's new deals....if the Chiefs signing Mahomes to half a billion told you anything, it's to stop fearing the cap...it's not hard to manipulate.

I know that. Cap is not that hard to manipulate. But you cannot do magic. And Mahomes contract (which by the way is 450M extension) is a really team friendly contract. So friendly that when the Chiefs win superbowls and Mahomes has a 45M cap hit HorizonToZenith will still be annoying us with the fact that his cap hit is less than 13%.

Jokes aside, I understand what you mean, I would generally agree with you. However, due to this year's special cap situation I also understand why we still haven't signed anyone. We can make up to 10M in cap space for FA (plus the extra 8-9 we need just to function) and it would be nice to do that. However, making that space is not automatic, so it's not fearing the cap. It's understanding that things are not as simple even though we are all anxious about our team having to sign someone. Despite what some idiots say, the cap is indeed very real.

[Chili]

I know i'm blowing smoke here but what if these two are working together to form an exit plan? That might explain why nothing has been done yet to their contracts because they don't want anything to change their plan?

Rodgers may be anticipating he will be cut after this season or the next. Adams becomes a FA one way or another, even if a franchise tag is slapped on him.

By 2022 at the latest Rodgers can pick a team and bring Adams along with him. Kinda like how Brady took Gronk with him to Tampa.

Am I being completely unrealistic or is that a very real scary possibility?

Edited March 20, 2021 by Chili

[Packerraymond]

4 minutes ago, VonKarman said:

I know that. Cap is not that hard to manipulate. But you cannot do magic. And Mahomes contract (which by the way is 450M extension) is a really team friendly contract. So friendly that when the Chiefs win superbowls and Mahomes has a 45M cap hit HorizonToZenith will still be annoying us with the fact that his cap hit is less than 13%.

Jokes aside, I understand what you mean, I would generally agree with you. However, due to this year's special cap situation I also understand why we still haven't signed anyone. We can make up to 10M in cap space for FA (plus the extra 8-9 we need just to function) and it would be nice to do that. However, making that space is not automatic, so it's not fearing the cap. It's understanding that things are not as simple even though we are all anxious about our team having to sign someone. Despite what some idiots say, the cap is indeed very real.

Yeah there's no way what we're doing is sustainable, but I feel like we're too worried about making a way for it to be a little more sustainable. Detroit has like 40m in dead cap, they're going to suck this year. When we transitioned to Rodgers we sucked and it helped us win a SB. I think way too much emphasis in GB is put on sustainability and not enough on taking advantage of the moment.

[mikemike778]

19 minutes ago, Chili said:

Maybe Rodgers and Adams are refusing to go along with anything and since they have all the leverage there's not much the front office can do about it.

I felt the right thing to do was to cut Preston Smith since we've already have Gary. I was mildly surprised when we chose just to make a pay cut. The only other cut candidate is Lowry but that would severely harm our DL depth and won't create much cap relief anyway.

Maybe the plan really is just this simple,

1.] retain our players  - mostly done.

2.] and wait for the FA market to die down and pick off the scraps.

3.] draft new talent.

Well we can restructure Rodgers without asking him so he has zero leverage in that regard. Adams is  different - if we don't  restructure Rodgers it indicates we may be moving on from him in 22 in which case he may prefer to play out the season and see what situation is then.

Your plan is fine except for the fact that we can't afford to sign scraps and our draft class as things stand. If we don't sign any significant FA, we still probably need to clear 10m

 

 

[Malfatron]

likely King to a 1 yr deal