Sez Me …
Quarterbacks now have become so exclusive they have to be excluded.
From the salary cap.
They have become too rich for their teams’ blood.
I know it’s being discussed, but for NFL play to have a chance to be great — or even near-great, or good — again, it has to separate QB money from the other positions.
Teams simply can’t afford enough top players to be great. Champions are lucky, avoiding too many injuries. They don’t have good depth, because of cap restrictions. Outstanding players go somewhere else when contracts expire.
There has not been a great team in this century. Not in New England, not in Kansas City. Look at the Super Bowl scores. Not many blowouts there. The Patriots could have lost all of them. The Chiefs won the last two by field goals, 2024’s in OT. Both had the best quarterbacks.
The 2008 Pats had a chance at greatness. They won their first 19. Lost in the Super Bowl to the inferior Giants. Great teams don’t do that. At least they once didn’t do that.
If you’re privileged enough to take a tour of the NFL’s posh New York headquarters at 345 Park Ave., you’re not going to find an office with “Aesthetics” on the door.
The League loves to tell us it cares how it looks, how it is perceived, but it’s become obvious in recent years that what happens on its fields is not always very handsome and quite often ugly.
Top 10 highest paid QBs per year (in millions): Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love (55); Tua Tagovailoa (53.3); Jared Goff (53); Justin Herbert (52.5); Lamar Jackson (52); Jalen Hurts (51); Kyler Murray (46.1) and Deshaun Watson (46).
Patrick Mahomes is 11th, at $45 million, and you know what? That’s not going to be enough. Sooner or later he’s going to get more, and in this market, he deserves more.
The NFL’s salary cap is $255.4 million. Teams must have 53 players on their active rosters, 16 more on practice squads. And around 20 percent of that money goes to the top quarterbacks.
And things could be getting worse. It now has been falsely determined — probably by agents — that wide receivers have become the second-most important on a team.
So there now are 22 wideouts making more than $20 million a year — and five making more than $30 million, topped by Justin Jefferson’s $35 million. Coming up is the Cowboys’ CeeDee Lamb, who’s going to want a ton, and Dallas still has Dak Prescott with more leverage than any franchise QB in history. He’s in the final year of his contract.
Thing is, wide receivers do not win Super Bowls. K.C.’s receiving corps in 2023 was a joke. They’re pretty to watch. But the rings they wear generally buy themselves.
Miami just gave Tyreek Hill, a receiver the Chiefs traded away, the same person who once beat up his pregnant girlfriend, a three-year, $90 million deal — with $59 million guaranteed. This, following the heavy footprints of the deal Tua signed in July — four years, $212.4 million, with $167 million guaranteed. And he has a crystal body.
That’s quite a bit of the cap for two players, and the Dolphins haven’t won anything of note in more than 50 years.
The League gathers billions of dollars on the strength of its remarkable TV ratings, which are totally powered by gambling, not those seeking football excellence. Wagerers care about beating the spread. They’ll watch trash. Millions of fantasy-goers worry about their players, not what it looks like.
The NFL will have us believe it cares about the product, but if it did, it would do something about it. Play never may be great again, but there can be improvement if these billionaires care about rising above the bottom line.
There are too many times I feel as though I’m watching practice. And anyone who knows me will tell you:
I hate practice. …
Tom Brady again says that, if the right opportunity presents itself, he may end his retirement. And only I know what that will be. His 60th birthday. …
The NFL has to do more than hand its drunk-driving players a water chaser. The punishment has to be harsh. Don’t tell me driving intoxicated isn’t more serious than PEDs. …
Has Roger Goodell forgotten his sober NFL partnered with MADD in 2010? I guarantee you thousands of mothers have not. …
Jim Harbaugh could talk his way out of a Russian gulag. …
The comical NCAA has informed Jim that he can’t attend the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi dance at Michigan for four years. This neutered organization’s arsenal is now a cherry bomb up against Patton’s Third Army. A joke. …
Jim got busted for “allegedly” breaking recruiting violations at Michigan. For buying kids hamburgers. That’s gotta be, what, 43 felonies? …
when the NCAA slapped Aztecs basketball with a minor infraction? Smokey Gaines: “All this (crap) going on and I get busted because Moses Malone bought Leonard Allen pancakes.” …
There are two ways to fix the ongoing U.S. men’s 400-meter relay embarrassment. 1. If qualified, choose not to run. 2. Lose the athletic arrogance for a moment and practice. …
Veteran track and field broadcasters should know that, when the men’s 100-meter dash final is :005 close, you don’t call the winner until the photo. What, are you expected to win a prize for the right guess? …
I’ve seen a zillion 100s, and there’s no chance, watching that race live, I knew who won. …
The Padres have a huge 2024 schedule break. They get to play the White Sox. …
I still refuse to believe a baseball team can lose 21 straight games. …
It’s time for the Baseball Hall of Fame senior committee to welcome Eric Davis. The best player not in the Hall. …
When a manager comes out to argue with an umpire it is not a visit to the mound. But a waste of time. …
Manny Machado soon will be the Padres’ career home run leader. When he gets to 14. …
You can get on your computer in Collier, Fla., and find porn, but don’t go to a library and try to check out banned, vile, disgusting “The Sun Also Rises.” …
Archaeologists in Turkey have unearthed a 12,000-year-old calendar, one they believe can alter the timeline of history. Examples. February was 31 days and Labor Day ran the entire month of September. …
Ham & Eggers: The streets and sidewalks were filthy downtown for Comic-Con, but if you were a zombie riding a bike you were safe. …
Pitbull, the whatever, has won the naming rights for Florida International University’s football stadium, outbidding a rooster, Little Jerry Seinfeld. …
Cardinals fan: “I had two tickets in my car, somebody broke in and left four more.” …
“The fight is won or lost far away from the witnesses.” — Sugar Ray Robinson. The best. …
Anybody recall when U.S. boxing used to be a big deal? …
RIP, Chi-Chi Rodriguez, golf’s Jerry Lewis. …
I knew the U.S. would do poorly in Olympic shooting when the IOC banned AK-47s. …
Hey, the pandas are back. Neither one is named Justin Herbert.
