The CBA

The NFL and Players Union finally agreed on a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). All hail Paul Tagliabue! The NFL is saved! The Colts won’t have to cut Peyton Manning!

What does it really mean?

Mostly, it means that we don’t have to wade through boring columns with phrases like “salary cap”, “prorated” and “revenue sharing.” We don’t have to worry about Gene Upshaw for another eleven years. And we no longer have to pretend that we understand any of this.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t clear anything up for the Colts. Nobody seems to know if the Colts will be able to keep Edgerrin James or not. Most writers seem to think that the new agreement gives the Colts a better chance of keeping him. However, Polian insists that he has no idea if that will be the case. His strategy is to sit back and see how the market reacts. Hopefully, he doesn’t sit so far back that James waltzes his way to Arizona.

Polian also wants to re-sign David Thornton. He doesn’t know if this will happen, either. The Colts are about $8 million under the cap right now. That money needs to be allocated to James, Thornton and any rookies they want to sign. Eight million isn’t much to go around. To keep James and Thornton they’ll need to be creative.

I don’t know much about the cap, but it seems to me that many teams try to skirt cap issues by creating “incentive-laden” contracts. If that is the case, my suggestion is that you give James a ridiculously low salary and include a large amount of easy to reach incentives. For example, you pay him $1000 (minimum) per rushing yard. James easily knocks out 1000 yards a year (last year he had 1506 yards) so he’s pulling in an easy million there. Do the same for each catch and yard gained after the reception. Of course, this all goes straight in the toilet if he gets hurt, but so does the Colts’ season. Again, I don’t know squat about the salary cap or contract structure so this is all probably a huge waste of your time.

My point is that the Colts should do everything they possibly can to keep James and Thornton. Even if it means creating ridiculous contracts for a year or so until they can restructure enough contracts to make room for some serious deals for these guys. Or win a Lombardi Trophy. Whichever comes first.