You're right about Dennis Erickson. He is a bad NFL coach, who has no business coaching in this league. He had no business even getting hired.
However, the 49ers have so many problems beyond Erickson. I talked to Ira Miller, who covers the 49ers for the San Francisco Chronicle. He said that the 49ers have really screwed up in past drafts and have problems economically, they cant generate extra money because they don't have many private boxes in their old stadium. They need a new stadium, but they don't know where the money is going to come from. Add in that John York, the owner of the 49ers, is considered a joke by unnamed owners in the league, and you have a franchise in disarray.
How could they be? They have about ummm... 0 talented players. They must have gone all out on players that have already left.
Can you please explain the salary cap to me? The way I understand it is, you have so much money to spend, and if you release a player, you still have to pay off their contract, if you trade a player you lose that player's contract and get the player you traded for's contract. Is that all there is to it?
When players get signing bonuses, the amount of money in the bonus is dispersed throughout the life of the contract, while the player gets the money straight up. Here is an example:
Let's say Joe Smith signs a 5 year contract for $19 million and a $10 million signing bonus.
Smith gets $10 mil up front, as well as $3.8 per year. However, his cap hit for each season is $3.8 + $2 ($10 mill bonus/5 years = $2 mil/year) = $5.8 mil
Signing bonuses are made so players get the money right away and the team doesnt have to take a huge cap hit.
Now, lets say Joe Smith is a bust after his first year and totally sucks. The team decides to release him. The team has to take a cap hit of the amount of money thats left on the signing bonus dispersal. After 1 year, $2 mil of the $10 mil bonus is paid off, which means the team will have $8 mil charged to the cap the year he is released. Sucks to pay $8 mil for a player not on the team. That same rule applies when u trade a player. You have to take the cap hit.
I forgot to mention that teams can pay off the bonus any way they want to. The preferred structure is moving most of the money toward the end of the contract.
