Darelle Revis is arguably the best cornerback in the NFL.
Some may say that Richard Sherman is now the best CB, but either way, Revis is
in the top two. So, you're probably wondering, "Why wouldn't you
want a player who is probably the best at his position to be on your
team?" Well, for starters, he has a terrible attitude, he is
difficult to coach, he is incredibly arrogant, and he has a bad history of
holding out. Revis is already complaining about Tampa Bay's head coach,
Greg Schiano, after playing only two games for the Bucs*. Additionally,
back when he played for the Jets, he refused to play until he was the highest
paid player in the league at his position.
*Update: Revis has apparently met with Schiano to “clear the air.” I’m still not going to discount the likelihood
that Revis is audibly displeased in Tampa Bay
For these reasons alone, I would not want
Revis on my team. However, none of these are the main reason why I wouldn't want him on my team. Basically, it is difficult to build a team
around a player who is making QB money, while not playing QB. He is the best
at his position, but Revis does not have a significant enough influence on the
game in order to warrant his massive salary. In fact, in my opinion, no
defensive player does. This whole problem surrounding Revis is actually
the late Al Davis' fault. Davis set a
ridiculous precedent for CBs in 2009, when he gave Asomugha a contract that
would pay him $28.5 million over the first two years of the contract, and
almost $17 million in the final year of his contract, a number that rivaled the
top 5 quarterbacks of that year. Unfortunately for the Jets, Revis saw
this number – and seeing that he had surpassed Asomugha as the best cornerback
in the NFL – believed that he had a right to an even bigger contract, one that would make him the top paid player at his position.
Anyways, the point I’m trying to make is that you can't overspend
on any single defensive player. Unlike baseball or basketball, the NFL operates
around a “hard salary cap,” which means that you are simply not allowed to
spend more than the cap allows. Baseball
and Basketball work around “soft caps,” which discourages teams from going over
the cap by adding a luxury tax on top of the players’ salaries. While this controls the spending to some
degree, big market teams are able to support the largest salaries, thus they
often have the best teams. It is not as
simple as that though because the NBA salary cap is more restrictive than the
MLB, and the highest paid players do not necessarily yield the best teams. However, that is a long discussion that I am
not trying to explain in this article.
So, I’ll move on.
Anyways, this hard cap forces (smart) NFL general managers to
consider player value, rather than simply going after players based on
ability. Building a strong team is about
correctly valuing players, so that you can save money and spend decently on all
positions. One of the reasons that the
Patriots and Broncos are so good is that they have two of the best players in
the NFL right now in Brady and Manning.
And guess what? They aren’t the
highest paid players in the NFL. Both of
these quarterbacks don’t mind taking salary hits (Both players make a
significant amount of money, possibly even a majority of their earnings, on
endorsements), in order to reduce their salary cap hit. Also, all the top quarterbacks (salary-wise)
get paid about the same as much (Eli, Brees, Ryan, Flacco, Rogers, Brady,
Manning, etc.), but Brady, Manning, and Rogers are much better than the rest of
those QBs. So, these teams are “getting
more bang for their buck,” even before players like Manning and Brady take
salary hits.
The moral of the story is that underrated players are key to a
successful team. Look at the Niners
right now. I’ll just give you a couple
examples in Kaepernick and Asomugha (who I’m biased towards because of his
contribution to the Raiders). Kaepernick
is the 4th lowest paid starting QB in the NFL. This frees up a lot of cap space for the rest
of the team. Additionally, a player like
Asomugha, who is taking no guaranteed money and is playing for the Niners at
close to the league minimum salary, is a very solid number 3 CB.
The Seahawks are another great example of a team with very
underpaid players. Russell Wilson is
currently the lowest paid starting QB in the NFL. Additionally, Richard Sherman, one of the
best CBs in the NFL, is earning about $600,000 this year. Obviously, these numbers will change for both
the Niners and the Seahawks in the near future, and these teams will have to
adjust for when their best players want bigger contracts next year. However, for now, there is a reason why these
teams are so good.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Flacco and other Baltimore
Ravens players got big contracts after their Super Bowl victory last year. The consequences of this were that they had
to make a lot of roster cuts and spend less on many positions. For this reason, I said at the beginning of the season that I
didn’t expect the Ravens to make the playoffs, and I’m sticking by that.
The hard salary cap promotes parity. There is a reason that bad teams can suddenly
become division champions and why Super Bowl contenders often fall apart the
next season. Obviously, there are
exceptions (Patriots’ consistent success and Raiders’ assured yearly failures). I plan on explaining what I believe to be the
reason for some teams’ consistent yearly successes/failures in a future blog
post.
In conclusion, due to this “forced parity,” every season brings new
hope for each and every team (except the Raiders). It is a simple scheme, aided by the NFL rewarding
the worst teams with the best draft picks.
Great teams have stats trickle down to weaker players. These players get a little overpaid. The team has to make cuts and is forced to
spend less on free agents. Ultimately,
the team gets worse as a whole. On the
contrary, players on weaker teams develop their skill-set on a weaker team. These players get better, without the stats
to prove it. They hold onto modest
contracts. Additionally, teammates take
pay cuts because of poor production. More
money is available for free agents. And
suddenly, that team at the bottom of the division is making a run for the Super
Bowl. The NFC South is a wonderful
example of the volatility of the NFL.
From 2002-2009, the team that finished in last the year before, won the
division the following season (except when Atlanta finished last in 2007, only to
finish second in the division at 11-5 in 2008).
In the entire history of the current NFC South, each team has won the division
three times, except the Panthers, who have only won twice. While the NFC South is a bit of an anomaly,
it also serves as a great example for the consistent parity of the NFL. Maybe that’s why football fans love the NFL
so much, the hope that comes at the beginning of every NFL season. The belief that their team can make that
magical run to the Super Bowl.
No comments:
Post a Comment