National Football League

Are NFL salaries and the salary cap killing the NFL?

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

foxsports

The NFL has been growing for a very long time at an icredible rate and despite a ratings dip in 2016 the NFL is still a gigantic business. Yet something has to give sooner rather than later.

More from Phin Phanatic

First there was Reggie White who challenged the NFL and won his free agency way back in the 1980’s. The NFL adopted Plan B free agency which allowed players to start moving on after their contracts were up. It’s continued to build since then and now the league new year marks the beginning of free agency and that has exploded into one of the most anticipated months of the entire NFL calendar.

There is however, a problem.

The NFL’s attempt to make each team more capable of beating any other team is watering down the league and making it difficult for teams to really compete and build from within.

Free agency is a smart endeavor for both the league and the players. It allows players to maximize their monetary potential while also allowing players to showcase their talents in the hopes of getting paid. It’s the American way and for about 5% of the NFL players, it works.

A question remains however, is the salary cap and the higher salaries starting to ruin the NFL? The answer is yes.

The problem lies in the structure of the salary cap and this has to be addressed in the next CBA negotiations. In years past the absolute top players were given high salaries but now even average players are making a lot of money for doing little more than the just below average stars.

This past March Olivier Vernon left Miami for a monster contract with the Giants and his performance on the field so far has not come close to those numbers. Andrew Luck has a huge salary from the Colts but the Colts spending on quarterback and a few other positions have left them without any money to spend on defense.

This is becoming very common around the NFL.

Teams are overspending on a single player or maybe two to three max and then are left with a lot less money to spend on the rest of the roster. Ndamukong Suh counts around $20 million in Miami Dolphins cap space. Ryan Tannehill will count $20 million in 2017. Four players will count over $10 million in cap space. 17 players are making more than $1 million with six of those 17 making more than $2 million per season.

The two top players contracts account for $40 million of a $140 million NFL cap. Another five players are making over $5 million per season.

It actually doesn’t sound like a lot when you figure that after those top nine the Dolphins and other teams like them still have roughly $60 million to spend but after you factor in dead money and rookie pools there is a lot less.

So how is this killing the NFL? For starters it’s not creating the desired effect that the NFL hoped for. It’s not creating a competitive parity but instead a watered down league. Too many teams below .500 and too many teams that are consistently at the bottom because they have to overpay veterans that make no impact on their roster. Or they overspend on a big name and can’t get the quality return.

Case in point. Ndamukong Suh is one of the best defensive lineman in the NFL but he isn’t a game changer. The Dolphins are still ranked last in run defense and while Suh can take on two blockers and still collapse a pocket, the Dolphins can’t really afford to bring in viable options to play next to him to take advantage of what he does well. Or higher priced linebackers.

Removing Suh’s salary would have left $20 million annually and the Dolphins could have bought five players in the $4 million per year range. The $20 million paid to Tannehill in 2017 could bring in another 5 mid range free agents. That’s potentially another two offensive lineman, another cornerback, defensive lineman, and linebacker.

Of course a hole is created. At quarterback the Dolphins would have to find a replacement but in the case of Tannehill, he isnt’ showing the kind of growth that would secure his place as a franchise quarterback.

The league needs to reevaluate their salary cap. It might make more sense for the league to propose a position by position cap instead of an overall cap. This would allow players to earn money based on production while still allowing teams the ability to better manage their roster.

Another option would be to remove the salary cap entirely. The NFLPA would be on board with this and many teams would be as well. The NFL was pretty entertaining and competitive before there was ever a cap.

Whatever decision the NFL fails to make will be seen when the current CBA runs out but it’s likely to not have a huge impact. Teams who have been failing for a long time are unable to keep the bulk of their players because the pressure to win now has increased so much that teams overspend on one or two players with their fingers crossed.

Like the Miami Dolphins.