2023 Season

[CrimsonCrew]

Figured we should have a new thread now that we're a day away from the regular season.

[CrimsonCrew]

Arik Armstead restructured. Man, that's a strange one. Armstead's cap hits are absurd over the next couple years. I figured he was all but certain to be cut next offseason. I don't have any clue how we make future finances work if we can't cut him. I believe we were already scheduled to be well above the projected cap for next year.

Feels a bit like the Niners are becoming the Saints: getting into these absurd cap situations, but just always kicking the can down the road. It hasn't seemed to have a profound effect on the Saints, necessarily, but they also haven't been particularly good since Brees left. Seems like it's got to come due at some point....

[CrimsonCrew]

But the result is that the Niners have the most cap space in the league, apparently. Not sure what they're planning to do with it. Even with flexibility this year, we don't have it in future years, so I'm not sure how they can make a big move. Could be with an eye toward extending Aiyuk. And you can roll cap space over these days, so there isn't a real detriment to having it, but if it's at the cost of huge cap hits down the road, or worse, big dead money hits (hi there, still-on-the-book Dee Ford), it's hard to see that it's worth it.

[arich35]

Arik Armstead restructured. Man, that's a strange one. Armstead's cap hits are absurd over the next couple years. I figured he was all but certain to be cut next offseason. I don't have any clue how we make future finances work if we can't cut him. I believe we were already scheduled to be well above the projected cap for next year.

Feels a bit like the Niners are becoming the Saints: getting into these absurd cap situations, but just always kicking the can down the road. It hasn't seemed to have a profound effect on the Saints, necessarily, but they also haven't been particularly good since Brees left. Seems like it's got to come due at some point....

With the cap increasing every year, it isn't an awful idea. The front office is way smarter than us and seem to know what they are doing so I will trust them

[CrimsonCrew]

Arik Armstead restructured. Man, that's a strange one. Armstead's cap hits are absurd over the next couple years. I figured he was all but certain to be cut next offseason. I don't have any clue how we make future finances work if we can't cut him. I believe we were already scheduled to be well above the projected cap for next year.

Feels a bit like the Niners are becoming the Saints: getting into these absurd cap situations, but just always kicking the can down the road. It hasn't seemed to have a profound effect on the Saints, necessarily, but they also haven't been particularly good since Brees left. Seems like it's got to come due at some point....

With the cap increasing every year, it isn't an awful idea. The front office is way smarter than us and seem to know what they are doing so I will trust them

Except we're paying Dee Ford like $8 million this year....

[Samurai]

Niners released Matthew Wright, the kicker we signed when our guys all decided to develop various leg injuries. So it looks like Moody has convinced the coaching staff that he is healthy enough to handle our kicking chores against the Steelers.

[CrimsonCrew]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

[Samurai]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

Isn't he still re-habbing from a torn ACL? And he was decent in Dallas but seemed to decline with the Bengals. Since his decline started before the ACL, there must be something else going on under the hood. But I agree that we can't let McKivitz cost us a Super Bowl (or be the cause of a serious injury to Purdy) so I would think that Lynch should be anxious to use some of that newly available cap money to find a RT.

[CrimsonCrew]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

Isn't he still re-habbing from a torn ACL? And he was decent in Dallas but seemed to decline with the Bengals. Since his decline started before the ACL, there must be something else going on under the hood. But I agree that we can't let McKivitz cost us a Super Bowl (or be the cause of a serious injury to Purdy) so I would think that Lynch should be anxious to use some of that newly available cap money to find a RT.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the timeline on that. Could potentially be back in the near future? Obviously any solution at this point is going to be flawed, but it's one more name to consider if push comes to shove.

[Harry Palmer]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

Isn't he still re-habbing from a torn ACL? And he was decent in Dallas but seemed to decline with the Bengals. Since his decline started before the ACL, there must be something else going on under the hood. But I agree that we can't let McKivitz cost us a Super Bowl (or be the cause of a serious injury to Purdy) so I would think that Lynch should be anxious to use some of that newly available cap money to find a RT.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the timeline on that. Could potentially be back in the near future? Obviously any solution at this point is going to be flawed, but it's one more name to consider if push comes to shove.

Was reviewing the OL play and McKivitz was even worse than I expected, but more interestingly he’s a lot more poor man’s McGlinchy than advertised. Neither is good, but his run blocking is less awful than his pass pro, I thought it was supposed to be the other way round? Just one game though, but considering how well we played as a team he was just terrible. Otoh Banks had taken a big step up from what we’ve seen so far, and Brendel looked pretty solid.

[Samurai]

Isn't he still re-habbing from a torn ACL? And he was decent in Dallas but seemed to decline with the Bengals. Since his decline started before the ACL, there must be something else going on under the hood. But I agree that we can't let McKivitz cost us a Super Bowl (or be the cause of a serious injury to Purdy) so I would think that Lynch should be anxious to use some of that newly available cap money to find a RT.

Yeah, I'm not sure of the timeline on that. Could potentially be back in the near future? Obviously any solution at this point is going to be flawed, but it's one more name to consider if push comes to shove.

Was reviewing the OL play and McKivitz was even worse than I expected, but more interestingly he’s a lot more poor man’s McGlinchy than advertised. Neither is good, but his run blocking is less awful than his pass pro, I thought it was supposed to be the other way round? Just one game though, but considering how well we played as a team he was just terrible. Otoh Banks had taken a big step up from what we’ve seen so far, and Brendel looked pretty solid.

Yeah, in re-watching CM's run blocking looked average but his pass pro was below average. FWIW, here are the PFF grades for the OL from the game: McKivitz - 45, Burford - 28.6 (guessing the penalties really dragged down his score), Brendel - 57.4, Banks - 51.3 (agree he does look better than last season), Williams - 70.7. McKivitz and Burford will get severely tested this Sunday by Aaron Donald.

[Harry Palmer]

Yeah, I'm not sure of the timeline on that. Could potentially be back in the near future? Obviously any solution at this point is going to be flawed, but it's one more name to consider if push comes to shove.

Was reviewing the OL play and McKivitz was even worse than I expected, but more interestingly he’s a lot more poor man’s McGlinchy than advertised. Neither is good, but his run blocking is less awful than his pass pro, I thought it was supposed to be the other way round? Just one game though, but considering how well we played as a team he was just terrible. Otoh Banks had taken a big step up from what we’ve seen so far, and Brendel looked pretty solid.

Yeah, in re-watching CM's run blocking looked average but his pass pro was below average. FWIW, here are the PFF grades for the OL from the game: McKivitz - 45, Burford - 28.6 (guessing the penalties really dragged down his score), Brendel - 57.4, Banks - 51.3 (agree he does look better than last season), Williams - 70.7. McKivitz and Burford will get severely tested this Sunday by Aaron Donald.

In pass pro, CM has issues with bending…he doesn’t get low enough and sometimes for no apparent straightens right up in the middle of a play almost as if he think’s it over, taking himself right out of the play. And in particular he’s not nearly violent enough with his hands. Watt beat him on back to back plays with the exact same move. His footwork’s not too bad so far, but he’s gotta fix his bend/back and seriously upgrade his hands.

[arich35]

I thought Leroy Watson looked promising in pre-season. I hope he continues to develop on the PS and maybe takes a leap to overtake the RT position

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

Doesn't take a genius to interpret what Kyle is saying there.... Ambry Thomas sucks.

If they insist on giving that guy a jersey to wear on Sundays, they need to seriously consider it be with a different number sewn onto it. Whenever #20 trots onto the field it immediately signals that the opposing team should relentlessly target him and it basically always results in a very high success rate.

[Pattersonca65]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

For sure. Finding anything of value after the season starts is rare. Tomlinson was such a rarity.

[thesack12]

Read on Twitter

UGH! Seems like this could be similar to what Elijah Mitchell was dealing with in both his knees last season.

This is going to hurt the already shaky special teams coverage units, and it also means we are unfortunately going to have to see more Ambry Thomas on the field.

[thesack12]

Bengals cut La'el Collins. He's got a lot of experience playing RT at a fairly high level. Might be worth kicking the tires on him, especially if McKivitz struggles again this week.

For sure. Finding anything of value after the season starts is rare. Tomlinson was such a rarity.

Yeah, Collins might not be able to help anytime soon

Read on Twitter

[wco81]

But the result is that the Niners have the most cap space in the league, apparently. Not sure what they're planning to do with it. Even with flexibility this year, we don't have it in future years, so I'm not sure how they can make a big move. Could be with an eye toward extending Aiyuk. And you can roll cap space over these days, so there isn't a real detriment to having it, but if it's at the cost of huge cap hits down the road, or worse, big dead money hits (hi there, still-on-the-book Dee Ford), it's hard to see that it's worth it.

I just don't understand how the richest league in the US, maybe in the world, has such a low salary cap.

Under the previous TV deal, NFL was getting about $6 billion a year. Under the new TV deal, which started with the 2022 season, NFL is getting over $11 billion a year.

Then I believe you add in the Sunday Ticket money from YouTube TV, which wasn't part of the 2022 season and we're probably over $12 billion this year.

AFAIK, the salary cap hasn't doubled from 2021 season to 2023 season.

In fact it's at just under $225 million.

In 2019, according to Wikipedia, each NFL team was getting $255 million a year just from their share of the old TV deal.

I searched and Forbes says each team is getting $321 million now under this new TV deal. But a Buffalo newspaper article says the Bills got $347 million last year in TV money.

That's like a 40% jump from 2019 to 2022 in TV revenues per team.

In 2019, the salary cap was $188.2 million.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cba/

So TV money went from $255 million to $347 million, from 2019 to 2022. That is a jump of 36.07% in 3 years.

But over the same period, the salary cap went from $188.2 million to 224.8 million, which is an increase of 19.45%.


So the players aren't seeing the same percentage increase in pay as the teams. Now the CBA lets them split the money, it used to be something like 55%? Or maybe that was the NBA.

Note however that this is just TV money. We're not talking about gate revenues, merchandising, local media rights, parking and other concessions, which we know are ridiculously high, like $75 for parking in some stadiums.


Seems like the salary cap should be a lot higher.

Regardless of the salary cap, most of the money goes to QBs. Burrow signed for an average of $55 million and laid an egg in his first game. He's a good young QB but he has elite weapons, one of the best WR groups in the league.

Bosa and a handful of other position players have secured big contracts for themselves, around the $30 million mark or higher.

But overall, NFL players other than QBs have low salaries, considering the revenues that the NFL generates compared to other sports.

Oh well, the cap sucks for fans of teams which are in the title contention window but at least there is a cap. The situation in the Premier League is ridiculous, no salary constraints of any kind so sovereign wealth funds of petro states spend like crazy on soccer player salaries.

[CrimsonCrew]

Because the owners want a low cap The lower the cap, the higher their profits.

[wco81]

Because the owners want a low cap The lower the cap, the higher their profits.

Sure but NFLPA must have been fooled or something into not having player salaries grow as fast as the TV money.

Maybe they traded higher salaries for more benefits like pensions and health care for retired players.

You would think they get at least the same percentage of revenues as under the older TV contract.