Pukes signing of Marco Rivera

Texas Hog · Post by **Texas Hog** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 4:53 pm

So Wingman or others, what do you think? Good move?

Pro-bowler in '03, does he have anything left?

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:15 pm

He's a definite upgrade of Andre Gurode...

That just leaves the question of what to do with The Garage

Texas Hog · Post by **Texas Hog** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 5:17 pm

Wasn't AG a fairly high pick a few years back? What's he costing y'all?

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:10 pm

Texas Hog wrote:Wasn't AG a fairly high pick a few years back? What's he costing y'all?

Thank God his contract ain't that high.

But he falls in line with our rich tradition of second round busts. :evil:

curveball · Post by **curveball** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 6:55 pm

You guys can slam this signing all you want.

Great addition to the team at the biggest need area's swell, but a $9 million SB for a 33 year-old guard?

This is their first bad signing/contract.

BossHog · Post by **BossHog** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:02 pm

curveball wrote:You guys can slam this signing all you want.

Great addition to the team at the biggest need area'a swell, but a $9 million SB for a 33 year-old guard?

This is their first bad signing/contract.

Definitely a good signing personnel wise. They need o-line help to protect Bledsoe better. But wow what a price tag.

Five-year, $20 million contract that includes a $9 million signing bonus. The deal is worth $13.5 million over its first three seasons.

It's definitely bittersweet when you feel good about getting sought after guys but know that you're paying for it.

Brandon777 · Post by **Brandon777** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:09 pm

I think Parcells is desperate and is trying to go down swinging. If the Cowboys have another losing season, he is retiring. Hell, I think he may retire if they do really well, so he can say he went out on top. In order to protect his legacy, he is going to acquire as many weapons as possible to increase his odds of winning next season.

redskincity · Post by **redskincity** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:18 pm

This was a good pickup. We will have to deal with it though.

Im telling you, you cant give Bledsoe time in the pocket.

This sucks.

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Thu Mar 03, 2005 10:28 pm

redskincity wrote:This was a good pickup. We will have to deal with it though.

Im telling you, you cant give Bledsoe time in the pocket.

This sucks.

I'd have rather had the tackle first instead of the guard.

But this works. Supposedly Parcells wants to find a RT on the cheap (Oliver Ross?) or in the draft.

Same goes for the FS.

Shore up those two spots and a solid backup RB and we're a legit threat for 10-11, maybe (gasp) 12 wins :shock:

LetsRollBurgundyNGold · Fri Mar 04, 2005 4:40 pm

I would agree that it is a pretty high price tag for Rivera, but he is a solid lineman, and I don't recall him having many issues with durability, if any. (would double check, but I don't care that much.)

I think the Cows' moves (as far as salary) have been more a product of Jones than Parcells. With the potential of Bill retiring should the team struggle again, Jerry is doin what he has to do to give the team the players Bill wants. Since they had room on the cap, seemingly the deals are front loaded just in case the Tuna dips anyway and they can make cuts as needed...

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Fri Mar 04, 2005 5:56 pm

LetsRollBurgundyNGold wrote:I would agree that it is a pretty high price tag for Rivera, but he is a solid lineman, and I don't recall him having many issues with durability, if any. (would double check, but I don't care that much.)

I think the Cows' moves (as far as salary) have been more a product of Jones than Parcells. With the potential of Bill retiring should the team struggle again, Jerry is doin what he has to do to give the team the players Bill wants. Since they had room on the cap, seemingly the deals are front loaded just in case the Tuna dips anyway and they can make cuts as needed...

For the record, these rumors of Parcells quitting are just that...rumors.

He hasn't said anything to make anyone say otherwise. Just the guys at ESPN and such looking to break a story before anyone else and not bothering to check facts.

Now then, Jones is spending because he and Parcells now know exactly what kind of team they have, unlike last year when they held off. I think realistically, Parcells knew the team wasn't going to be great last year but didn't think they'd only win 6 games.

This is why I'm glad they got Rivera

A mean, ornery son of a gun, something the Cowboys havent had on their offensive line since Erik Williams.

They got better.

curveball · Post by **curveball** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:02 pm

As I see more details of Rivera's contract, it doesn't seem nearly as bad as I originally thought.

The SB is now reported as $8.125 million. There's also a $4.8 million bonus for playing 95% of special teams plays in 2006 which will never be hit, so the total value is closer to $19.8 million for 5 years.

General Failure · Post by **General Failure** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:08 pm

Count that as $4.8 million towards your 2007 cap thanks to the unpaid bonus loophole.

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:13 pm

General Failure wrote:Count that as $4.8 million towards your 2007 cap thanks to the unpaid bonus loophole.

So wait, we're gonna get a cap hit for money we're NOT responsible for paying?

Explain.

General Failure · Post by **General Failure** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:16 pm

No, you're going to have more cap room in 2007 to play with. Any incentives that aren't reached are added to next season's total cap number.

It's how the Eagles were able to have tons of cap space every year and still pay decent contracts. In the past couple of seasons other teams have caught on. I imagine the Vikes worked the hell out of that loophole for this season.

In short, 2007DallasCap = 2007Cap + $4.8m

General Failure · Post by **General Failure** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:27 pm

Here's an article on it. Used to have a link, but it died quite a while ago.

Eagles: Banner makes most of CBA loophole
By REUBEN FRANK
phillyBurbs.com

It's a rule so obscure it doesn't even have a name.

It's right there on page 96 of the NFL's Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Under Article XXIV, which covers "guaranteed league-wide salary, salary cap and minimum team salary."

In section 7, which covers "Valuation of Player Contracts."

Just go down to section ii, under "Acceleration."

And look down a little bit to subsection ©, paragraph (iii).

You can't miss it.

There, in tiny type in the middle of the 258-page CBA the NFL hammered out 10 years ago with the NFL Players Association, is a loophole.

A loophole that has given the Eagles more salary cap space the past two years than every other NFL team.

Team president Joe Banner, perhaps the NFL's shrewdest salary cap mind, won't discuss how the Eagles take advantage of the rule and, in fact, won't even acknowledge that it exists.

Why is this 70-word rule hidden in the middle of a vast legal document so powerful?

To understand that, we must understand the salary cap.

Each year, every NFL team is assigned a limit to how much money it can spend on payroll. Last year, the unadjusted cap figure for each team was $71.101 million. In 2003, it will be $75.007 million.

A player's annual cap figure is generally determined by dividing his signing bonus by the length of his contract and adding his base salary, although the final figure can be affected by various bonuses.

Add up the cap figures of the 53 highest-paid players on a team's roster and you can determine that team's cap figure. If a team surpasses the cap at one point during the season, it can be heavily fined by the NFL and even lose draft picks.

When teams dole out long-term contracts with giant signing bonuses, they risk getting into future cap trouble if the player performs poorly. If a team is forced to release a player who's received a big signing bonus, a portion of that bonus money can clog up the team's cap for years.

So the more room a team has to maneuver under its cap, the more competitive it can be.

Which brings us to page 96 of the CBA.

Although the annual salary cap is often referred to as a single figure, each team actually has its own unique salary cap figure. This is called an adjusted cap figure and the higher it is, the more money a team can spend to pay its players.

Last year, the Eagles' adjusted cap was $73,068,875. The average NFL adjusted cap figure was $70,394,674.

That means the Eagles had $2.752 million more to spend than the average team.

Why? Page 96. Read along at home:

At the end of a season, if performance bonuses previously included in a Team's Team Salary but not actually earned exceed performance bonuses actually earned but not previously included in Team Salary, an amount shall be added to the Team's Salary Cap for the next League Year equaling the amount, if any, by which such overage exceeds the Team's Room under the Salary Cap at the end of a season.

In essence, if certain incentive bonuses are not reached, the amount of the bonus is added to a team's adjusted salary cap the following year.

Nowhere does it state that the bonuses have to be realistic.

There's the million-dollar loophole.

In each of the last two years, the Eagles have re-written at least one massive - and utterly impossible to reach - incentive into the contract of a reserve player. When the player has - inevitably - failed to meet the incentive, the Eagles' adjusted cap figure for the following season has increased by the amount of the bonus.

Why would the players go along with this creative accounting? Simply, there's no reason not to. They're helping their team.

Why doesn't every team do this? Most can't. You need cap space to create more cap space.

The Eagles, thanks to smart cap management over the years, have the luxury of keeping a few million cap dollars free each year in case they need to replace injured players. By the end of the season, if it becomes clear they won't need the extra funds, they start throwing in those crazy bonuses, thereby passing the benefit over into the following year.

Think of this as a salary cap savings account. If the Eagles need the money, it's there. If they don't, they can just re-invest the cap space for the following year. Every year since owner Jeff Lurie bought the team in 1994 and put Banner in charge of all team finances, the Eagles have spent every available dollar under their adjusted cap.

The Eagles learned last week that their 2003 adjusted cap figure is an NFL-high $79,925,453, a staggering $4,688,488 above the NFL average of $75,236,964.

What they do with the money is another story.

That's nearly $5 million more to spend than the average NFL team. Four million more than the Cowboys. Six million more than the Giants. Seven million more than the Redskins.

Their creative accounting in 2002 earned the Eagles about $4.92 million in cap adjustments. The NFL average was $229,964. (Teams also have negative adjustments from bonuses that are met).

All because of one paragraph buried in the middle of the CBA.

As long as the CBA doesn't change and the Eagles don't mis-manage the cap, they'll continue to have far more money to spend than almost every other team.

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:37 pm

Ah I see.

Scared me for a second there.

I guess the Eagles have done something similar?

Edit: nevermind, just read your last post. Sometimes it pays to read the whole friggin' threat ](*,)

General Failure · Post by **General Failure** » Sat Mar 05, 2005 3:40 pm

Quite a few times. The Eagles like to sign young players to long contracts full of huge incentives.

curveball · Post by **curveball** » Sun Mar 06, 2005 9:11 pm

That will not count as a LTBE, the key word "likely", hence no rollover.

Quite frankly I can't see many reasons to add such an incentive. Unless they're playing some sort of game with some other teams/agents, artificially driving the market higher, I don't see how this benefits either party.

skinsfan1 · Post by **skinsfan1** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:05 pm

Good luck with this one.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2009594

Primetime42 · Post by **Primetime42** » Thu Mar 10, 2005 10:53 pm

Not a major concern...yet.

I'll see if I can find the whole story.

Edit: OK from what I found out, it's a common type of hernia. The surgery is a result of a "Let's fix it now instead of August" type deal.

He should be back in time for camp and if he needs more time he'll get it.

Who knows, maybe Andre Gurode is behind this :shock: