Colts not afraid to spend
NFL's largest payroll pays off with berth in NFL's big game
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay bragged last week that his team has the highest payroll in the NFL, and according to figures from the NFL Management Council, the Colts have spent $135 million to field this team.
The salary cap was $102million for 2006, but the Management Council figure is what's called ''committed cash'' and includes money paid in bonuses prorated over the lifetime of a contract. The Colts have splashed out more money than any other team to make it to the Super Bowl.
''If you are quoting the management number, then I don't know how they count up the cash,'' Colts general manager Bill Polian said. ''Until they define it, I don't know how they come up with that number, so I can't comment on it. The salary cap is what it is. The way we spend our money is just a function of keeping our core players.''
Polian said the figure represents ''a one-year thing,'' but according to the Management Council figures, the Colts have spent well in excess of $300 million in committed cash during the last three years, which also is tops in the NFL.
The Bears have spent about $80million less than the Colts in that three-year period and don't even rank among the top 25 in payroll this season, coming in under $100 million in committed cash. General manager Jerry Angelo and his management team have secured admirable salary-cap health by using the so-called Philadelphia method of identifying top players when they are young and signing them to long-term deals before they hit the free-agent market.
Players have a chance to cash in early, and the team wins by having good cap numbers for most of their contracts. It also helps to limit mistakes. According to research by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Bears have one of the lowest dead-money figures in the NFL. Dead money is determined by contract costs against the salary cap for players no longer with the team.
The Bears have two former first-round picks still on the books against their salary cap: defensive end Michael Haynes at $1.525 million and offensive tackle Marc Colombo at $690,000.
The Colts have done a good job with dead money, too, with only two big contracts still on their books: defensive tackles Corey Simon ($3.7million) and Josh Williams ($2.4million).
Polian, the architect of the Buffalo Bills teams that played in four consecutive Super Bowls, said it's difficult to compare those teams with the one he has built in Indianapolis.
''The other teams were in the non-salary-cap era, so it's comparing apples and oranges,'' he said. ''It really isn't a fair comparison. You can't make one. Under a salary cap, I don't know how many of those guys would have been on the Bills. Offensively, it's pretty similar, maybe a little more depth offensively. Defensively, it's very dissimilar, and it's because of the cap.''
The Bears spent big money in free agency to bring in such players as offensive tackle John Tait and wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad, but they also benefit -- if you call it that -- from not having to pay a franchise quarterback. The Colts gave Peyton Manning a seven-year, $99 million deal in 2004 that included a massive $34.5 million signing bonus, which was $14 million more than any bonus ever handed out at that time.
The interesting thing about that contract was that Manning had every advantage in negotiations because the Colts would have had to pay him a king's ransom if they were forced to put a franchise tag on him and pay him the one-year average of the top five players at his position. Manning and wide receiver Marvin Harrison reportedly count $17.8 million and $14.4 million, respectively, against the Colts' cap this season, which created a massive concern last offseason when the NFL owners and the players association were struggling to reach an extension to the collective bargaining agreement.
That doesn't count deals they will want to cut with three key players heading to free agency: linebacker Cato June, cornerback Nick Harper and, most important, defensive end Dwight Freeney, whose 2007-08 season voids out after the Super Bowl.
''Guys will have decisions to make as far as where they are going to be after the season,'' Freeney said. ''I live so much in the moment, day-to-day, just worrying about today and tomorrow, that for for me to think outside this season is something I just can't do.''
Fortunately for the Bears, the organization boasts a front office loaded with talented people such as Angelo, pro personnel director Bobby DePaul, college scouting director Greg Gabriel and financial guru Cliff Stein, who always have had a sense of the larger picture. The Bears have one of the most enviable cap situations in the league.
The salary structure put them in position to make the Super Bowl regardless of whether the CBA was extended. The Bears were comfortably under the cap and had all 22 starters returning, and now they are in a position to increase spending with a reported $23.1 million available under the 2007 cap.
They easily can afford to put a franchise tag on linebacker Lance Briggs, work out a new deal for defensive tackle Tommie Harris and have plenty of money left for a free-agent shopping spree. Of course, it's unlikely there will be many players on the open market because most teams have the money to re-sign their guys.
But it's nice to be able to do anything you want despite the supposed restrictions of the salary cap.