Tag: CBA

New CBA would add 7th playoff team for each conference starting in 2020

The NFL could have one more playoff team in each conference during the 2020 season.

The new CBA could create major changes to the current playoff format.

According to Adam Schefter of ESPN, the currently proposed CBA would add a seventh playoff team to each conference, ensuring 14 teams make the postseason, and it would create three games during the wildcard round and give just one team in each conference a first-round bye.

Under the current format, six teams make the playoffs from the NFC and AFC, and the top two seeds from each conference receive a first-round bye. It was adopted in 2002 during the division realignment.

The changes would go into place during the 2020 season if the new CBA is finalized before the start of the new league year. Per Schefter, there is “mounting optimism” that the deal will get done.

Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers (8-8) and Los Angeles Rams (9-7) were the seventh seeds in the AFC and NFC, respectively.

The Packers have made the postseason during nine of the last 11 seasons. They finished 13-3 and were the No. 2 seed in the NFC in 2019, earning a first-round bye. Under the new format, the No. 2 seed wouldn’t get a bye.

The addition of one playoff team for each conference will add additional revenue for the NFL (one extra playoff game) and keep more teams in the playoff race late into the season.

6 things that need to be addressed before a 17 game schedule becomes a reality

(AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio) The 17-game regular season has come up in football circles again since the collective bargaining agreement is in its last year. The players have constantly stated they are against making the regular season any longer. The …

 (AP Photo/Mark LoMoglio)

The 17-game regular season has come up in football circles again since the collective bargaining agreement is in its last year. The players have constantly stated they are against making the regular season any longer. The owners want 17 games to get more money from its television partners and because the preseason simply isn’t sustainable for anyone — fans, owners, players, coaches — as currently constituted. The 17-game schedule is one of the biggest things that will be talked about during the CBA negotiation. It’s really the biggest piece of leverage the players have over the owners in this round of talks. There are some things that need to change, and the players would be smart to focus on the following talking points any time 17 games is brought up.

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News: Leighton Vander Esch may love new CBA, Randy Gregory not so much

The Dallas Cowboys have a huge decision to make regarding the future of Byron Jones. Safety and defensive tackle positions are discussed.

The safety and defensive tackle positions also have their share of questions that need to be answered for the Dallas Cowboys. March could see quite a few faces at these positions leave the building and adjust how the Cowboys formulate their plan for 2020 when free agency starts.

Meanwhile, the NFL and NFLPA are working towards a new CBA and wrinkles of proposed changes could certainly impact Dallas and their players. Meanwhile, the Cowboys strength of schedule next season and potential free-agent bargains are covered in this edition of News and Notes.

According to 2019 records, Cowboys have third-easiest strength of schedule in 2020:: Blogging The Boys

While they await the NFL Combine, the beginning of free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft, the Cowboys can focus on something they already know; the 2020 opponents. The Cowboys will face the NFC West, the AFC North, the Atlanta Falcons, and the Minnesota Vikings.

Dallas finds itself with the third-easiest projected schedule just behind the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.

— DS

New CBA would give first-rounders a path to fifth-year franchise tag :: Pro Football Talk

The Cowboys didn’t have a first-round pick in 2019 . . . some say they didn’t have a second-round pick either, but we digress. They will have one this year, barring a trade down, and with a new CBA on the horizon, there may be more money down the line for whomever they draft, and also Leighton Vander Esch. According to sources (read: NFL leaks) the fifth-year option could become more lucrative. Currently, top 10 picks get the transition tag level of one-year extension for their team options. Those outside the top 10 receive a much smaller number, the average of No. 3 through No. 25 at their respective position.

For Vander Esch, potentially jumping from around $10 million for his option (if there’s no extension worked out) to around $17 million is a whole entire big deal.

— KD

New CBA would shrink annual marijuana testing window to two weeks :: Pro Football Talk

What the new CBA giveth, they also ruin by doing something hardly anyone would agree with. Maybe (likely) it’s all public negotiation, but this other section of the proposed labor agreement makes no sense. The momentum for the NFL to catch up with state laws on the curtailing of policing marijuana seems very strong. However the league may still be looking to roll up, their sleeves, that is.

According to PFT, there will not be an elimination of the marijuana policy, but rather a shrinking of the testing window and reduced penalties for those who are not habitual line steppers.

For the Cowboys, Randy Gregory, who has been suspended for 46 games in five seasons (playing 28), he’d most likely fall into that category.

— KD

Cowboys roster breakdown: New direction coming at defensive tackle:: Blogging The Boys

Big decisions are to be made on Maliek Collins (UFA), Antwaun Woods (ERFA) and Daniel Ross (RFA). Blogging the Boys list big-name free agents to target along with drafting possibilities in order to get this very important piece of the depth chart solidified.

— DS

Biggest Potential Bargains in 2020 NFL Free Agency:: Bleacher Report

Bleacher Report does a little digging and finds some of the players that may fall under the radar and become a little bit more valuable without the bigger contract.

Dallas Cowboys cornerback Anthony Brown finds himself on this list. Coming off a season-ending injury, Brown has found more success when working in the nickel and could be looked at by NFL teams looking to improve their slot cornerback position.

— DS

Dallas Cowboys 2020 Offseason Preview: Safety:: Inside The Star 

One position the Cowboys have been trying to figure out for some time is safety. They seemingly have their guy at free in Xavier Woods, who is coming off of his best season as a pro.

Jeff Heath has been the starter opposite him for the last few years. While solid mostly, he still hasn’t locked down the position as one would want. Now, he’s set to be an unrestricted free agent, leaving a hole to possibly fill. This piece discusses where the Cowboys safeties are as far as contracts go, depth at the position, and how new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan could bring a new philosophy to getting this area corrected.

— ML

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What resources do the Saints have to work with in 2020 offseason?

The New Orleans Saints currently rank sixth-worst in both projected 2020 salary cap space and in cumulative 2020 NFL Draft pick value.

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It won’t surprise anyone that the New Orleans Saints are strapped for cash and draft picks in 2020. The team’s strategy of maximizing their resources has created a cycle of spending future assets to win now, and it’s resulted in the best three-year stretch in Saints history.

So expect that to continue this offseason. The Saints will not hesitate to trade next year’s draft picks to move up and target a prospect they really believe in, and they’re also willing to get creative in contract structures to fit everyone in beneath the salary cap. The situations in each area are going to change whenever the new NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement is ratified and once this year’s compensatory draft picks are awarded, so don’t look at these numbers as more than well-educated guesses. But where do the Saints stand right now?

We’ll start with the salary cap. The analysts at Over The Cap are working with an estimated 2020 salary cap of $200 million, which has the Saints with just under $9.4 million in cap space. That ranks sixth-lowest around the league, but at least the Saints aren’t starting out in the red this year. However, Over The Cap also lists the Saints with 56 players under contract, which reflects the voided deals with Drew Brees, Teddy Bridgewater, and A.J. Klein; while each of their contracts are up in March, their contracts are technically still on the books. Those three players are the difference between tying for the 10th-fewest players signed for 2020 and the 14th-most, which reflects where teams stand right now in filling out their 90-man offseason rosters.

What about the draft? Tankathon has put together a cumulative value of each team’s current picks, based off the Jimmy Johnson model, and the Saints sit close to the bottom of the pack. That’s because they’ve already traded their 2020 second-round pick (as part of a package that netted starting center Erik McCoy and versatile safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson) and their seventh-round pick (for cornerback Eli Apple, a former starter headed for free agency).

The 2020 Saints draft class currently has a total value of 992.4, which ranks sixth-worst in the NFL. Their only selections in the top 100 will come at Nos. 24 and 88, and their three remaining picks will be pushed back once compensatory draft picks are allotted. Naturally, the established, aggressive Saints draft strategy of trading up means they’ll probably try to make a move on draft day.

So, to recap: for now, the Saints rank sixth-worst in both projected 2020 salary cap space and in draft pick value. But as we’ve seen before, that probably won’t be a big hurdle for Saints coach Sean Payton, general manager Mickey Loomis, and their staff. It’s shaping up for another fascinating offseason in New Orleans.

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NFLPA to vote on possible 17-game regular season

The NFLPA will vote on a possible 17-game regular season in the NFL’s new CBA.

As the NFL and NFL Players Association continue to negotiate terms of a new collective bargaining agreement, both sides are going to have to make compromises and trade-offs to reach a deal.

One trade-off the players will have to consider is having their bodies play in one extra game per season in exchange for the NFL meeting some of their demands in the new CBA. ESPN reported earlier this week that the NFLPA plans to vote on the possibility of a 17-game season (via Seahawks Wire).

If the NFLPA approves adding an extra game to the regular season, the new schedule likely wouldn’t begin until 2021, when the new CBA would begin. Broncos coach Vic Fangio has opposed a 17-game season, suggesting instead that the NFL consider adding an extra bye week.

“I just think 16 is more than enough,” Fangio said in December. “You can see some of these teams, us included to a degree, the injuries start to pile up. If they want an extra week of TV, give everybody two byes during the season.”

Fangio can share his input, but he won’t have a say in the decision. It’s up to the owners and players to decide if the season will expand.

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Does the NFL have an aging fan problem?

The Super Bowl averaged just below 100 million viewers a few days ago. Television numbers were pretty good this year even if in-person attendance went in the opposite direction. The NFL is coming up on what should be historic television deals in …

The Super Bowl averaged just below 100 million viewers a few days ago. Television numbers were pretty good this year even if in-person attendance went in the opposite direction. The NFL is coming up on what should be historic television deals in 2021 — assuming there isn’t an extremely extended work stoppage due to the CBA expiring in 2020. Everything is rainbows, sunshine, peaches, cream, cherries on top and any other description of great for the NFL when it comes to television. Well, that is except for this:

Yes, the NFL isn’t Major League Baseball, which had the oldest average age of its viewers at 57 in 2017. Football’s average age of its viewers was at 50. That’s better. It’s still not the NBA (42) or soccer (39).

A 1.5-year median age jump in one year for the Super Bowl should be a slight concern. After all, just staying at the same rate should make the average median age 48.7.

No league wants to be associated with an aging fanbase. Older fans age out of viewership. It’s simple logic to point out that younger fans have a longer lifetime value to the leagues, and there are other benefits to a younger fan base. It’s easier to market the game as something cool. Brands get the association effect or halo from a league with younger fans and then those brands resonate with the view. Bud Light doesn’t want to be seen by young impressionable customers as associated with something that only old people drink while watching an old person NFL game.

And that’s where we come to the median age of fans watching the Super Bowl on television. Yes, Fox, CBS, ESPN/ABC, NBC, and whatever other traditional television rights holder will be throwing tons of money at the NFL. It will be billions of dollars. The price is only going up from where it is now. It just might not be the most money the league can get out of these television providers because of that median age of viewers ticking upwards.

So the NFL will do the obvious thing and move toward streaming providers. They likely won’t want to go with an exclusive provider. ESPN/ABC will want content for ESPN+. YouTubeTV, Amazon, Facebook, DAZN, and other streaming providers will want to get their hands on NFL content as well. The less exclusivity, the less valuable it is to a provider. So not only will TV compete with traditional television competition, but they will also be competing with the cord-cutting generation.

That’s where the NFL lags behind the NBA. This isn’t an immediate problem. It’s probably not a problem five years down the line. It could be a problem in 10-15 years — assuming the leagues are still around then. The NBA has done a great job leveraging social and digital media to lay the groundwork for long-term growth. It feels like the NFL is slightly behind. At least these leagues are MLB which essentially bans anything cool from going up on social media without the expressed consent of Major League Baseball. The NFL isn’t nearly that bad.

It’s just something to think about. Again, it’s not an immediate threat, but it’s time to start thinking about the long bending arc of the business. Roger Goodell isn’t just the steward for the game that just celebrated its 100th anniversary for the next five years. He is responsible for the vision 10 to 15 years down the line. The aging customer should be one of the top things every league worries about. Maybe the NFL just needs to turn an eye to that a bit early to set itself up for continued success and growth far down the line.

That should be easy. Invest in more digital media. Monetize and license content through YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter, and anything else under the sun that may contain content — even if that content isn’t normally allowed on the site. Discuss those changes with television partners and prepare them for streaming deals. Work closely with streaming providers to figure out the best distribution policies and remember the next generation of fans may never know what a cable bill actually is. At that point, the median TV viewership number doesn’t matter. Because only old people will be watching TV.

NFL Players Association to vote on 17-game regular season

The NFL Players Association is going to conditionally vote on a 17-game regular season schedule, part of the proposed CBA in 2021.

The NFL Player’s Association has agreed to convene after the Super Bowl to conditionally vote for or against a 17-game regular season schedule, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortensen and Adam Schefter.

This new schedule, if approved, likely wouldn’t take place until 2021 when the new CBA goes into place. Talks between the owners and the NFLPA have been contentious for months now, and while many players do not want an added game to the schedule, a source told ESPN the players may choose to  “accept the one thing they hate, a 17-game season, in exchange for 10 or more things they want.”

If the players reject the proposal, it could put into plan a potential work stoppage in 2021, as the window to get a deal done before the owners table the proposal until after the 2020 season is closing.

Almost all of the players dislike the idea of a 17-game schedule for health reasons, and many of the most outspoken players are former Seahawks, including Richard Sherman and Russell Okung.

The new CBA proposal also includes the potential for an added playoff game as well as nearly eliminating punishment for players who test positive for marijuana, following in the footsteps of the MLB.

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NFL still mulling over 17-game regular season in new CBA

The NFL is still pushing to add to the NFL regular season.

One of the key points in the upcoming talks between the NFL and the NFLPA for the next CBA is going to center around the length of the regular season. The notion of a 17 or even 18-game season has been tossed around and according to NFL reporter Albert Breer, it would be part of a bigger shift to the schedule including the preseason and playoffs.

The league understands how much money is at stake by adding another game and it is significant. For the players, they view a bump in league revenue that has to come with some concessions. According to Breer, removing one preseason game is part of what is on the table as well as a cut to training camp work for players.

What the players should be talking about is more money, in particular, more guaranteed money. Hopefully, the two sides can come together so there is no work stoppage in 2021. The players want more by doing less and the league wants more with more. In the end both sides are going to have to concede something they truly want so the NFL can keep chugging along.

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