With the NFL up against a hard cap every year, it makes it difficult for teams to just go out spend frivolously on a regular basis.
Those teams that do spend big put extra pressure on themselves to win now. Winning a Super Bowl probably makes being in cap purgatory much more manageable. But for those who fail to turn their cash expenditures into victories, they’re met with the harsh reality of what it’s like to overspend and not have anything to show for it later.
New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has long been one of the better cap managers in the league. That’s evidenced by the team’s 20-year run from 2000-2019 where they won six Super Bowls, made nine Super Sunday appearances and participated in 13 AFC Championship games.
Now, having Tom Brady definitely helped a lot, but it still takes yearly shrewd managing of the team’s cap to be able to compete at that high of a level that long.
Belichick Says Spending Sprees Halt Sustained Success
For years folks have questioned why the Patriots rarely spend big in free agency or overpay for their own talent.
Belichick is finally giving reasons for his money-management, proving that there was always a method to his madness. During a recent interview with WEEI out of Boston, BB was blunt when speaking about his team’s approach, while calling out others.
“Temporarily you can, but you can’t sustain it,” Belichick said. You can’t sustain 20 years of success that we sustained by overspending every year without having to eventually pay those bills and play with a lesser team. So I think if you look at the teams that have done that, that’s kinda where some of them ended up. Jacksonville back in ’14, the Rams are going through it, Tampa is going through it now. So, I’m not saying there’s anything right or wrong with it. It’s just a different way of doing things and there’s the results for doing that.”
Belichick Breaks Down Cap Spending In Comparison To Cash Spending
The usually stoic and pretty bland Belichick also discussed the differences and relevancy of the cap as it pertains to actual cash spending.
“Cash spending really isn’t that relevant. It’s cap spending,” Belichick said. “So teams that spend a lot of cash one year, probably don’t spend a lot of cash in the next year because you just can’t sustain that. So we’ve had high years, we’ve had low years, but our cap spending has always been high. And that’s the most competitive position you can be in. So that’s really — the cash spending, there’s no cash cap. There’s a salary cap and we spend to the salary cap. That’s what’s important.”
In the end, Belichick is saying don’t look too much into one year of spending, because it doesn’t determine how a roster is actually built.
