Football Outsiders: Mike Brown Doesn't Manage the Salary Cap So Well

Breaking news today on the interwebs:  Bengals owner/GM/businessman extraordinaire Mike Brown doesn't do a good job managing the NFL's salary cap.  This is reported by J.I. Halsell over at Football Outsiders (which is a great site; bookmark it if you haven't already).  This information may be tough to swallow, as I know it comes as a great shock to you all.

Halsell came up with a formula which attempts to rank all NFL teams in terms of how well they used their salary cap in 2008.  He takes into account wins, total cap charge, and how much of their unused cap space a given team rolls over into 2009 (for more information on rolling over, look here).  Not surprisingly, since wins were the main factor in this study, the Detroit Lions finished last.  It's really tough to divide by 0, after all.  In 31st place?  None other than Mr. Mike Brown and his Bengals!

Now, it'd be easy to dismiss this study based on the fact that wins were such a heavy part of the formula and only wins from one season were taken into account.  However, this does not explain why 2 win teams Kansas City and St. Louis finished ahead of the Bengals.  Also, 11 win Baltimore finished 21st and 9 win Tampa Bay finished 2nd.  Clearly, wins are important but are not the be-all-end-all in this formula. 

Another item of note from this piece - notice the three teams who didn't roll over any cap space from 2008 to 2009.  Buffalo, Arizona, Cincinnati.  Each team has an older owner and each team has essentially been incompetent for years upon years, not withstanding the occasional fluke season (Bengals in '05, Arizona in '08). 

Finally, I'll leave you with this.  So many times we've heard from Baghdad Hob or other team personnel that the argument, "Mike Brown doesn't spend money," doesn't work because every year the Bengals spend right up to the salary cap.  This may be true, but it is blatantly obvious to all but the most comically biased observer that the Bengals waste cap space year after year.  In 2008 alone, the Bengals were one of two teams who let more than $10M in cap space expire.  Keep in mind, Tampa Bay and Philadelphia each carried over $20M+ into 2009, and had a significant advantage over the Bengals in the free agent market because of it (Stacey Andrews went to Philly because they were able to overpay; Derrick Ward visited Cincinnati but went to Tampa). 

The only other team to let more than $10M expire?  The Kansas City Chiefs, who fired their general manager Carl Peterson.  The Bengals general manager, surprisingly enough, did not experience a similar fate.

Comments

[n8]

Just when you think you can't hate the guy anymore then you already do you find out he sits at home and rubs his two shiny nickels together and articles like this appear. I refuse to be a deuche bad this year. I must also refuse to be a Deuche bag with my fantasy football team by not drafting my token bengal every year even if it is a red headed kicker who Mike Brown decided was the guy to take this Franchise to the next level or he just decided he was the best player on the team.

Please just make it stop!

[Major Payne]

n8, you aren't going to draft Chad? Gambling Fool guarantees that Chad will have a 1000+ yd year and will go to the Pro Bowl. Don't be a doubter like me.

I'm still holding out hope that Katie will finally have Mikey declared legally incompetent. This is one more page in the overwhelming file against him.

[J M]

I really didn't know that unused cap space could be rolled over to the next year. I would love to see how much under the cap the bengals have been since 2005. In my opinion any owner would have grasped the opportunity and promise of 2005 and done whatever he could have to bring players in to make the team better.

He did nothing.

Apparently unused cap space simply adds that amount to the next years cap for each individual team. If they don't roll it over the money is then "unspent" on players to make the team better. So where does it go?

Into Mike Brown's pocket apparently. I'm done paying a guy the full price of admission while he does nothing but try to scrimp and save and stick as much money of ours as he can in his family's pockets.

If you don't spend it on players at least spend the cash to build an indoor training facility or something to positively impact the performance of the product on the field.

The cash is in his pockets. It was not used in anyway to improve the team.

The salary cap amount is completely paid for and guaranteed in the money disbursement from the NFL. So rolling money over wouldn't be an opportunity to have to pay more out of pocket the next year. It's money you should have counted on spending to field a good product.

However look how this guaranteed money from the NFL is being used. As an opportunity to make even more profit.

Christ. He gets every penny from the stadium that taxpayers pay for. What a greedy S.O.B.

I would feel differently if the team was succesful and cheap, or could at least spend enough to do basic professional things like protect your own quarterback. Or sack the opposing quarterback. We were the only team that played the Steelers last year and didn't sack Ben once. We played them twice! Maybe we need better people? When I want better people at my company I have to pay more to get them.

Will he ever realize that fielding a winning team and running a professional organization will make him more money than he can possibly scrimp and save.

Will he at least realize in the short term that keeping Carson Palmer in the games, win or lose, will make him the most money now? Because I may give in and decide to watch a game or two this year but if J.T. O'Sullivan is the starter then I'll just watch whatever other game is on.

I'm not so sure that having 3 out of 5 of the starting O-line in new positions, and 3 out of 5 players that were in fact back-ups to last years miserable showing is any way to protect the centerpiece of your franchise. Oh and btw that is the "plan". It's not by accident due to injuries it's the best they have to give us.

I'm tired of hearing that spending money doesn't guarantee you anything. He's never tried! I have read for years that they keep millions of cap dollars available for injuries. Who have they paid significant money due to injuries? Dhani Jones?

Remember the embarassment of the New England prime time game when we didn't have enough healthy line backers to play and we had safeties playing backer? Do we really believe that cap money set aside for injuries is anything more than a cash pool stashed for the Brown's until the season ends?

But we have ourselves to blame. We support this fool by giving him our money.

It's been three years and they have failed to replace Rich Braham. In three off seasons you couldn't get one competent veteran guy. A guy that can step in right away and play at least at a starters level? A solid center is a pretty safe investment.

It just doesn't end does it?

[Marc]

J M, great post, and to answer your question, NO, it never ends with Mike Turd!

[TigerJ@w]

MFB has being doing this for 18 years. Nothing has changed except for the shepeople renewing their season tickets year after year after year after year of losing, losing, losing, losing just to be with family and friends at a tailgate party. Pfffffffftttttttttttt

[Whit]

Please don't write more than a paragraph. No one reads them, so your wasting your time

[WCH]

But those Schwanzkopfs over there at Football Outsiders (should be called: We don't understand how Mike Brown works so we are going to publish something that is irrelevant to the way he does things!) don't get it. It took them that long to figure out that Mikey Boy Brown is inept? How long is it going to take them to realize that MBB has 'The Golden Rule' working for him?

Look, what those losers did was to attach a meaning to allow for a 'ratio' (subjective as it is) to prove a thesis that is already proven -- MBB is a dumbass when it comes to football and football operations (BTW< have you ever given thought why Mikey Boy Brown doesn't sue some individuals on this board for their comments (regardless of merit)? It is because in most cases, he'd have to open up the books and he doesn't want to do that -- not for some pissant website -- here's a hint, he ain't gunna do it either.

Anyway, it boils down to the fact that he doesn't know what he's doing -- by all accounts -- save his cronies. You can attach whatever you want to the other side of the argument and 'prove' a ratio of ineptitude at ones will! It took this group of gopher balls this long to figure out that MBB's this side of being mentally 'stoopid?' Sheesh, next they will have a revelation that the sky is blue on August 3rd! (or ANY other, more than likely, sunny day).

Here, let me make a postulation right now, MBB stinks because he has this normal amount of money pouring into the draft but his beer sales don't show anything for it! Or how about his T-shirt sales don't reflect it? Or how about his toilet paper use doesn't reflect it? All are obvious. All a probably true, all are equally worthless as a 'factoid' -- and these dorks over at Football outsider actually had the stupidity to print such a useless and worthless story?

I guess it proves that sad people have to latch on to whatever they can to justify their existence.

[Wyatt]

WCH,

Next time you have a thought?

Just let it go.

[MikeBrownSucks]

WCH,

This might shock you, but the story wasn't a Bengals-specific one, but because this IS a Bengals-specific site, only the Bengals side of the story is being discussed. I really doubt FO (which is, by the way, one of the best NFL sites out there) created a formula and wrote an entire article just to prove how poor Mike Brown runs things

[Peter Roser]

Football Outsiders: "Mike Brown can't work a salary cap."

Football Insiders: "No shit."

[Eddie]

Brown better watch it, or Obama's gonna take over the Bengals! Funny thing is, running the Bengals is probably the one thing that gubbermint could do better than this particular private ownership!!