I wanted to introduce a new feature at OTC which well be looking to make live in the future called the contract utilization index. The CUI is a simple metric that looks at playing time for a player and uses that playing time to adjust a player’s annual contract value accordingly. While this doesn’t necessarily tell us about the players level of play it does identify if the teams most expensive players are seeing the field or if there are a lot of wasted dollars on the bench. Basically it helps see if teams are getting good or poor basic returns on their investment. Continue reading Introducing the Contract Utilization Index »
Year: 2017
2017 NFL Picks: Week 14
PANTHERS (+2.5) over Vikings– Should be a good game this week and these teams should match up well. Vikings have more explosiveness so one play probably sets up a very close win. Vikings 21 Panthers 19 Continue reading 2017 NFL Picks: Week 14 »
Introducing Tender Projections For The Next League Year
With the 2017 regular season winding down interest will be rising as to how for 2018 teams can keep some players off the free agency market, and at what cost. The newly added Franchise, Transition and RFA Tenders page should help in this regard. Using contract data collected over the past five seasons, OTC should now be able to give you a reasonable estimate of what type of money (both cash and cap spending) it will take to use a franchise or transition tag on one player, and at what position. It can also estimate what type of pay Restricted Free Agents (players with expiring contracts but only exactly three accrued seasons) should expect depending on what level of compensation their team places their tender at.
These numbers are now also automatically integrated into OTC’s calculator to assist you in coordinating the placement of these tenders with other roster moves that you may anticipate a team making as it seeks to balance its cap situation and improve itself further. Please note that the calculator is not yet programmed to deal with players tagged in consecutive seasons, so for a few players (Kirk Cousins is the most obvious), the calculator will underestimate the actual cost of the placement of a tag. In these cases, simply use the “Extend” function to give that player a one year deal at the appropriate amount. (For players tagged a second time, give his previous salary a 20% increase, and for a third time, a 44% increase–in Cousins’s case, that should be $34.478 million.)
Also note that projected numbers are not yet official and are based on OTC’s estimate of a $178 million salary cap for 2018. These numbers will change accordingly if/when the official number changes.
2017 NFL Picks: Week 13
Had a pretty decent week last week and will hope to keep it up this week. Ill try to tally the overall record next week too. Continue reading 2017 NFL Picks: Week 13 »
Thoughts on Eli Manning’s Benching
I, like most others, was pretty stunned that the Giants benched Eli Manning. Not because Manning was great, because he wasn’t, but because of the situation. Eli has been the face of the Giants franchise since 2004. Whatever Eli’s shortcomings are as a QB had zero impact on the Giants this season. The Giants were a terrible team from the start. Whether it was reading their press clippings or whatever else they were a mess from day 1. So its not as if Manning was holding them back from the playoffs. Finally who are the Giants really evaluating? They don’t have Manning’s heir on the roster. Continue reading Thoughts on Eli Manning’s Benching »
Questions and Answers on Kam Chancellors Contract
The question I seem to be getting over and over these days is regarding Kam Chancellor of the Seahawks and his status going forward. Rather than just emailing or tweeting back I thought it made more sense to do a post on the subject that I can refer everyone too from now on. So lets do a quick Q&A on Chancellor’s contract. As always these answers are based on my interpretations of the CBA and the way I have seen other similar situations play out. Continue reading Questions and Answers on Kam Chancellors Contract »
Thoughts on the Jaguars, That Superb Defense, and Blake Bortles
The Jaguars defense has played at an elite level this season. They have kept opponents to an average of just 15.3 points per game, a mark which no team has achieved since the 2013 Super Bowl-winning Seahawks (14.4).
They are talented and productive, while also being relatively young when you consider that several of their stars are aged between 23 and 26 — Jalen Ramsey is already a top shutdown corner at age 23; Telvin Smith at 26 has built on his hype and is entering his prime as one of the better defensive playmakers in the league; AJ Bouye is also 26 and has earned every cent of his big deal; and then there’s three players under 24 who are thriving in the system – Yannick Ngakoue, Myles Jack and Dante Fowler Jr. Continue reading Thoughts on the Jaguars, That Superb Defense, and Blake Bortles »