Players Still Don’t Understand Uncapped Year

Cardinals linebacker Karlos Dansby, who currently is operating under the franchise tag for the second straight year, already has drool snaking down his chin for the uncapped year. “Man, I can’t wait,” Dansby told Sporting News Radio’s The Monty Show on Friday. “It’s going to be interesting to see what takes place.” Yes, it will be interesting. But not in the way Dansby thinks it will be. Without a salary cap, only a couple of teams will be engaged in a financial arms race -- presumably, the Cowboys and the Redskins. Without a salary floor, more than a few teams will be keeping the cash in their pockets, especially with a work stoppage looming. That’s the biggest misconception that most players still have about the uncapped year. No cap means no floor. This year, teams are required to spend $111 million on player compensation. Next year, the teams will be forced to spend based only on the minimum one-year salaries. And the evidence that teams will be inclined not to overspend next year can be found in the fact that only a handful of franchises are even flirting with the per-team limit of $127 million. If teams aren’t spending $127 million in 2009 when $127 million is the most that can be spent, why does Dansby or anyone else think they’ll spend more than $127 million when the ceiling is removed? This next comment from Dansby revealed another major flaw in the players’ reasoning: They don’t seem to know that tehy they need six years of service to become unrestricted free agents. “I’m going to be amongst some great guys like DeMarcus Ware, you got a couple more guys out there that’s coming out and are going to be up . . . free agents and it’s going to be good to see what we fell and where I fall amongst those guys,” Dansby said. Dansby will be on the market next year. But Ware won’t. He’ll have only five years of service, and thus will be a restricted free agent only. We wonder whether Ware realizes that. Or Shawne Merriman. Or any other guy drafted in 2005 or 2006 whose contract will be up next March, and who will only be restricted free agents. Even if, like Vikings cornerback Karl Paymah, the player was an unrestricted free agent in 2009. In our view, one of the first challenges for new NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith will be to find a way to ensure that players who might be clamoring for a Pacman-style money shower realize the truth about life without a spending maximum, or a spending minimum.