Key vet signing date shifted … While the news did leak out a couple of weeks ago, there still does not appear to have been any formal announcement by the NFL that the league has moved the key June 1st veteran signing/release deadline up to May 12th. In the past teams releasing veteran players after June 1st could absorb the salary cap hit over 2 years. At the same time, unrestricted free agents signed after that date were not factored into the calculation of compensatory picks for the following year’s draft. By moving the date up, it gives teams an extra 2-3 weeks to work those newly signed vet free agents into their programs; in particular, it means that many of those post-deadline UFAs may now be able to participate in their respective team’s post-draft mini-camp. Moving up the date also gives those veterans released for salary cap reasons an extra 2-3 weeks to find a new football home. Compensatory picks for the following draft year are determined by the NFL based on an arcane formula that factors in net losses of UFAs, as well as the money involved in the various UFA signings. By our unofficial count, teams that currently have the largest net loss of UFA veterans lost compared with those signed include Seattle, Baltimore, and Denver which have each lost 5 more UFAs than they have signed, while Baltimore and Detroit are down four each and New England and Kansas City three each. At the same time, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Dallas, Green Bay and San Francisco are all down two players. And thanks to long-time GBN reader Terry G. for the tip as Overthecap.com, which is usually pretty accurate on these kinds of estimates, has a projection of which teams will get which comp picks in 2016 based on the UFA signings to date.
