The New CBA- any updates post here

I will post some articles here to give some insight on how this affects us. From what I can gather if the CBA is not extended by March 3 than 07 will be an uncapped year... What that means for us in 06 is Deshaun and Witherspoon will be Restricted Free agents because it will take 6 years instead of 4 to become unrestricted. That and the salary cap will not increase by as much and you don't get to spread the cap hit over 2 years by cutting someone prior to June 1st....


DENVER, Jan. 22 -- Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said the NFL and the players' union still have major work to do before reaching a collective bargaining agreement that would allow the league to avoid a work stoppage. One of the big issues is revenue sharing, he said, and one of the things that could enter into talks is the way in which the Washington Redskins have increased the salaries of assistant coaches.

Speaking with reporters on a variety of topics before Sunday's AFC championship game between Pittsburgh and Denver, Tagliabue said of the negotiations, "We're still slogging away. Sometimes it seems we're taking two steps forward and one step back."

Of an upcoming meeting, Tagliabue said: "What's going to happen Thursday in Orlando? Not a lot. The main purpose of that meeting is to get all the owners engaged, back in the issue and reopen the dialogue. I don't think we'll be voting on anything."

He described the two sides as getting "closer" on the critical issue of revenue sharing. "At this point," he said, "we've solved some issues, but it's kind of one step forward . . . then hit a roadblock." The commissioner did not elaborate on what those road blocks are.

When asked his reaction to the Redskins signing defensive assistant Gregg Williams to a contract worth approximately $2.7 million per year and offensive assistant Al Saunders to a contract worth approximately $2 million per year, the commissioner said the escalation of assistants' salaries could enter into the discussion of revenue sharing. And Tagliabue indicated the players' union would want to closely examine what to do about so much money that has been outside revenue-sharing parameters.

 

Be nice if the league would pay some of the former players some decent benefits. Watched Behind the Lines on ESPN and some of it was unbelievable. They pay some of the players like 147 dollars a month and they are like totally disabled. The NFLPA president Gene Upshaws reaction was "I don't work for them"

 

here's an article that is from Tampa site- It explains how it will affect the Bucs but, you can draw the similarities between their situation and ours.

The National Football League and the NFL Players Association have yet to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which expires at the end of the 2006 season. Without a new CBA in place, the NFL will have an uncapped year in ‘07. Why is that relevant to Tampa Bay’s ‘06 cap status?

“Most aspects of CBA don’t expire until after the ‘07 season,” said Bucs general manager Bruce Allen. “There are some special quirks once the last capped year starts, which is the first week in March.”

One of the specific last-year cap rules that Allen referred to as a quirk is the fact that there will be no salary cap relief by cutting players on June 1 if a new CBA is not in place. Traditionally, teams have used June 1 as a date to release players so that that year’s pro-rated portion of the signing bonus affects the current year’s salary cap while the remaining portion of the pro-rated signing bonus accelerates and hits the following year’s cap.

Another aspect of the CBA that will be affected in ‘06 should a new agreement not be reached is shared television revenue, which normally increases the salary cap by approximately $5 million each year. Without a new CBA in place, all 32 team, including the Bucs, who are scheduled to be over the league-mandated ‘06 cap by $12 million, will be lucky to have the cap increase by half of that amount.

“In the last capped year the percentage that the cap is based on decreases,” said Allen. “There are quite a few elements that will come into play. The calculation for the revenue is all the same, it’s just a smaller percentage.”

There had been some speculation that the NFL and the NFLPA could strike a deal on a new CBA as early as November, but that didn’t come to fruition. However, the Bucs have been planning accordingly.

“It doesn’t look like there’s been any progress made on either side,” said Allen. “So over the last year or so we’ve been handling our salary cap in preparation for both scenarios – having an uncapped year (in 2007) and for having the CBA extended.”

By being $12 million over the cap, the Bucs will again be forced to restructure contracts and/or release players to come in compliance with the salary cap by March 3, which is the tentative start of free agency.

However, there is some good news. Because it won its grievance against ex-Bucs receiver Keenan McCardell, Tampa Bay will receive an extra $1 million in cap room once McCardell repays the team some of his signing bonus money. The team may also be rewarded an extra $862,500 in cap room, depending on the outcome of the grievance filed by former Bucs tackle Derrick Deese, who felt he should have been given an injury settlement when he was released. Should Deese win that grievance, the Bucs will be hit with an additional cap charge of $862,500. If the team prevails, it will gain that amount in cap room. The Bucs only have four starters – kicker Matt Bryant, tackle Kenyatta Walker, safety Dexter Jackson and defensive tackle Chris Hovan, that are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents in March, and Allen suggested the Bucs’ 2006 books are in the best shape they’ve been in since he was hired in January of 2004.

“It’s better because last year we were over $20 million over the cap,” said Allen. “In March of ‘05 we cleared over $40 million in room over the ‘05 season and ‘06 seasons because you had to address it prior to this lean year starting. Otherwise, you’d really have some problems in ‘06, especially if there was no extension of the CBA. We addressed that.”

But will a better cap situation translate into more free agent spending in 2006?

“I know it’s been suggested that we weren’t a big player in free agency last year, but we don’t think of it that way,” said Allen. “We signed Chris Hovan, Ike Hilliard, Anthony Becht, Juran Bolden and Matt Bryant. Those are guys that have made a significant impact for us this year. We had a good free agency period last year. We’re fortunate that over the last couple of years we’ve had drafts where we were able to fill slots on the team. Looking forward to next year’s draft, we feel we’re going to get six to eight guys who will fill more spots, so we’ve had an infusion of young talent.”