NFL Free Agent Signings: Santonio Holmes, Jets Prove Cap Concerns Are Mirage

Every year, just before free agent signings are about to begin, a big deal is made by the media, fans and some teams about salary cap issues. There are always some teams that are over the cap. Fans and the media will then get locked in on thoughts of worry that the team won't be able to sign anyone in free agency, and that they'll have to cut players to make room. 

Some teams play this up. They'll cut players and call them a cap casualty, or they will not spend a dime in free agency and say they were handicapped by the cap. Those statements and the belief that teams get tied down by the cap are false. Consider the New York Jets.

This year, the Jets were one of those teams that were not supposed to be able to make big waves in free agency. This came to us from John Clayton on ESPN just a few weeks ago when Clayton listed the Jets as one of the top five teams in a bad spot with the cap returning:

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Rex Ryan and the Jets have a lot of work to do. They want to bring back cornerback Antonio Cromartie, wide receivers Santonio Holmes, Brad Smith and Braylon Edwards and some key role players. To do that, they will have to clear out some cap room. The Jets are $1.3 million over the salary cap and have the league's highest payroll at $123.85 million. General manager Mike Tannenbaum has always worked the cap like a puzzle. He would be especially challenged by a $120 million cap.

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Now that free agency has begun, those worries seem long in the past. There have been no reports of the Jets plans to cut any players. What there are reports of, are the Jets offering up big contracts. This came from Adam Schefter on Tuesday via Twitter:

""Santonio Holmes early numbers: 5 years, $50 million, including $24 million guaranteed, thought to be highest guarantee given to a WR.""

Surely, that signing will be the only big splash the cap cash strapped Jets can make, right? Wrong! The Jets are still in play for the free agent that many expect to get the biggest contract ever received by a defensive player. This comes to us from Andrew Brandt via Twitter:

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"Am told Jets' aggressive play with Holmes will not deter pursuit of Nnamdi. Couple players notified of possible restructure if needed."

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And that second sentence is the key. It points out the entire sham of cap concerns. To help put that in better perspective I am going to turn to sportswriter Jerry McDonald. McDonald has covered the Oakland Raiders for years. He has had a front row seat for the salary cap game as the Raiders are almost always over the cap before free agency starts. Jerry McDonald on Inside the Oakland Raiders:

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Does anyone remember before the the uncapped season how the Raiders would routinely have these huge overages against the salary cap as high as $40 or $50 million and then magically be under the cap and still be players in the free agent market?

Tim Brown [former Raiders' wide receiver] once told me the biggest sham in the NFL was when teams say players were cut for cap reasons. No team, Brown maintained, ever lost a player they truly wanted to keep especially if the player was open to staying.

It made sense, because they routinely entered the free agent market by playing the salary cap the way people refinance their homes. They simply extended contracts to their top players, cut their salaries to the minimum and spread bonus money out over the life of the deal to lessen the cap hit.

Brown did it almost every season. There’s a certain amount of dead money created, but it isn’t difficult to keep playing the cap game and pushing debt into the next season without ever really being accountable or losing a chance to sign someone.

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There you have it. File that into the memory bank, and the next time you hear someone moaning about salary cap problems you can know that it is either much ado about nothing, or that it is a handy excuse by the team.