NFLPA president Eric Winston is not a fan of the compensatory pick structure that sends teams draft picks for losing talent in free agency and not spending on outside free agents.
“I’ve never understood it,” Winston said (via The Athletic’s Ross Tucker) of a system that began when full-fledged free agency spawned in 1993. “It was negotiated in a long time ago. It’s really antithetical to what we think the NFL should be. We have a soft cap system. There isn’t really the small vs. big market thing like baseball. If everybody is spending about the same money, why is it needed?”
The Eagles’ decision to trade a third-round pick for Golden Tate probably represented the top compensatory pick-related deadline deal, with the Lions taking a 2019 third-rounder and the Eagles likely betting Tate walking in free agency will net them a 2020 third. (Though, the Cardinals acquired a sixth-round pick (and cost the Vikings a 2019 third) by cutting Sam Bradford prior to Week 10.) This system also affects mid- or lower-tier free agents in March and April, when teams’ compensatory picks are attached to signings.
“As a player you are almost better off being cut because then every team can have interest in you without regard to the comp picks. How does that make sense?” Winston said, via Tucker.
Here’s the latest from around the league:
- Bruce Arians recently plugged former boss Chuck Pagano for the Browns’ job, and the former Colts coach has stayed involved in preparation for another potential opportunity. Pagano’s worked with NFL officials as a league consultant, Tom Pelissero of NFL.com tweets, adding that the six-year Indianapolis leader visited some college camps as well. Although Pagano’s final three years in Indianapolis did not go nearly as well as his first three, he may generate interest in 2019.
- The Vikings‘ decision to let Case Keenum walk and spend $84MM fully guaranteed to add Kirk Cousins ranks as one of ESPN.com’s best moves of the offseason. “They were smart enough to realize they had the quarterback-friendly setup with a ferocious defense that gives up 20 points or less a game,” an NFL exec said, via ESPN’s Mike Sando (ESPN+ link). While Keenum led all passers in QB DVOA last season, he’s 23rd in Denver. Cousins, though, is just 17th by this measurement. Cousins (12th) is 15 spots ahead of Keenum in Total QBR, however.
- An interesting what-if from a past trade deadline emerged recently. The Chiefs nearly traded Tony Gonzalez in 2008, months before he was actually dealt. Both the Eagles and Packers agreed to send a third-round pick to the Chiefs, and Jay Glazer of The Athletic (subscription required) notes it was going to be up to the then-32-year-old tight end to decide which team he preferred. (Gonzalez, per Glazer, initially wanted a trade to the Giants, but GM Jerry Reese refused to give up a third for the future Hall of Famer.) Then-Chiefs president Carl Peterson, though, changed the terms of the deal. Peterson, fired in December of 2008, asked for a second-rounder minutes before the ’08 deadline, Glazer adds, scuttling a potential Gonzalez trip to either an Eagles team that ended up in the NFC title game or Mike McCarthy‘s Packers — then in their first year of the Aaron Rodgers era. A livid Gonzalez then told Glazer he wanted to retire. However, he returned to a Chiefs team that finished 2-14 before new decision-maker Scott Pioli traded him to the Falcons the following year.
Don’t understand the Pagano hub bub. He was not good in Indy and why do we constantly talk about retreads
He was at the mercy of a terrible GM. I wouldn’t hold the last couple years against him.
No coach is going to look good when your best player is out for 2 years.
“We have a soft cap system. There isn’t really the small vs. big market thing like baseball. If everybody is spending about the same money, why is it needed?”
With that quote right there, I’m sorry to say Raiders’ fans, but the excuse your team doesn’t have the money to sign players is BS. I’ve read all season from journalist to fans in comments section claiming poverty for their team.
And of course, they wouldn’t dare discuss the Chargers not being able to sellout a 30K stadium. But their financial woes, in terms of paying the players, is never mentioned.
I agree with completely that it’s laughable for any NFL team to claim poverty. Every franchise shares equally in the millions received from the sports broadcast networks. The Raiders never spent a nickel on improvements to their stadium so they have plenty of money for acquiring talent. In terms of spending the Bills have the lowest payroll but they still spend only a third less than the Vikings who have the highest payroll. There is no need for the comp pick system and the soft cap is becoming something of a joke as teams can use signing bonuses as a way of creating cap wiggle room as we saw two team do in just the past few days.
The only source the Raiders have for money is the revenue sharing with the league. Which half of it goes directly to the players. They play in a stadium which lacks the luxury boxes which drives extra revenue. They play in the single worst stadium and since the city is incapable of actually fixing it, they decided to leave.
They’re splitting an additional $2b this year alone on gambling. Let alone all the sales from their games. Sure they may be short on luxury boxes. But who the hell wants to pay $5 to see a team tanking let alone the average $100 per person? Parking, concession sales, & ticket sales is all theirs.
Please explain this to me. I’m not trying to be a jerk, but really curious.
They were in Oak and not successful so the moved to LA. They weren’t successful in LA so back to Oak. Again, not successful in Oak so they need to move to Vegas.
How is that an NFL problem but not a Davis problem?
The City of Oakland promised they would fix the Colisseum, they didn’t. That is not the Raiders nor the NFLs problem that is the cities fault. Davis has the least amount of money than any owner in professional sports. Whether or not he can actually afford the team is a different story. Ticket sales is split with both teams unless it’s for luxury boxes. Hence why all owners want lots of boxes. They don’t have to split their revenue from them with anybody. The parking fees and some of the ticket revenue goes to the owner of the stadium which in this case is not the Raiders. The lack of boxes and playing in a stadium which should have been demolished already is why the Raiders needed to move.
Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I see it as a family that has made poor business decisions rather than anything else. For example paying a guy top 5 coaching money who hadn’t coached in 10 years. That’s bad business.
They are getting a brand new stadium built and paid for by both the NFL & Nevada in a tax free state.
Add up all the revenue (both home and away games, TV, merchandise, gambling et al) and the Davis’ family is plenty wealthy, but cheap towards their business.
Davis is worth 500m or so. Poor by owner standards. The coaching decision to trash the team right now is so they can build a winner when they move. Whether or not that’s actually going to work is a different issue. They don’t have the cash flow to make it work. They can’t even afford the 550m of bribe money for the other teams. Remember the revenue sharing brings in 300-400 mil and includes a team that can’t fill a 30,000 stadium. Are they supposed to keep playing in a garbage dump just because.
Keep them coming! I live in Jacksonville. When Wayne Weaver was ready to sell; there were tarps over 30% or of the stadium, not 1 winning season in a decade or more. Yet, Shad bought them ANYWAYS and voila, all of a sudden a real business man filled the seats, removed the tarps, added pools and plenty other amenities.
Shad didn’t turn around the Jags because he was rich. He turned them around because he understands business that made him rich.
I’m with you on this JJ. Mark Davis will always have some excuse for the media to explain why he has never escaped the shadow of his father.
Jon Gruden traded the Raiders’ revenue sharing to the Carolina Panthers for a 5th round draft pick in 2020
GB also had a deal in place to acquire Randy Moss from Oakland. IIRC, the 2 sides verbally agreed to complete the deal the following day, and all the sudden he’s on his way to New England. Whether the Pats were in talks already I don’t know, but the final result was sketchy to me.
2 examples to dispute those who claim Ted Thompson never made any effort to trade for experienced talent.