Check out this excellent article on how to play the cap game in the offseason, & hurt the competition

The article below, while almost two months old, is outstanding nonetheless. It references former Giants Ahmad Bradshaw, Plaxico Burress, and even LT in passing at the beginning. Check it out below:

"How Bill Belichick Screwed The Steelers" by Nik Bønaddio on Apr 15th, 2013


The main thrust of the article is how former longtime Giant and current Patriots Head Coach, Bill Belichick, turned the screws on one of his main competitors in the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers. Belichick did so by signing RFA WR Emmanuel Sanders to a one-year offer sheet.

The Steelers, who have had lots of cap trouble this offseason, (now being $4,438,618 under the cap) are in bad shape unlike the comparatively healthy Patriots (who are now $8,391,859 under the cap), tendered Sanders at the original tender level amount, which in Sanders' case was the third round. The three tenders are for a first round pick, a 2nd round pick, and the original round that the player was drafted in. their corresponding tender amounts are as follows, as per Albert Breer's tweet about 5 months ago:

The Steelers drafted Sanders out of Southern Methodist University in the third round of the 2010 NFL draft with the 82nd overall pick. They made a tactical error in electing NOT to tender Sanders at the 2nd round level.



It would have cost them $700,000 more than the original tender, but as it turned out, the Patriots made them pay approximately $1.2 million more than that original tender amount when they agreed with Sanders to the $2.5 million offer sheet that he signed with them on April 10th, which the Steelers ultimately matched 4 days later.

This helps to explain why the Giants offered Andre Brown a 2nd round tender instead of the original round tender that I was speculating that he'd get:

I was wondering why the Giants paid Brown more than they had to, but after looking at this whole Emmanuel Sanders affair--who'll probably bolt Pittsburgh next offseason with their cap being as tight as it is--it makes sense. It's better to pay a little more, and be prudent, than to get caught with your pants down by your competitors. You can bet that teams in direct competition with the Giants (read good teams in the NFC, especially NFC East teams) would have loved to do the same thing to the Giants that the Pats did to the Steelers.

Look at what happened to the Redskins and Cowboys the last two offseasons, with all the cap room each team had to give up. Washington gave up $18 million in cap room each of the last seasons, while Dallas gave up $5 million. That cap space was divided up 28 ways, and redistributed throughout the league (only the Saints and Raiders didn't benefit from this since they committed minor cap infractions of their own). You can bet good money that the Cowboys and Redskins would ESPECIALLY love to stick it to the Giants, particularly with Giants' co-owner John Mara, who is also a prominent member of the NFL Competition Committee, being painted as the main reason behind those two clubs being penalized--their own negligence aside of course.

In summary, we can see how direct competition is not just something which exists during the regular season, but is also prevalent at all times, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. This competition extends off the field during free agency, the Draft, Rookie Free Agency, the waiver wire--with the salary cap being the main thread that runs through all of these subdivided mediums of competition.