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Bucs Dominik, Browns Holmgren Thinking Alike

Posted Feb 22, 2010 by Roy Cummings

Updated Feb 22, 2010 at 12:25 PM

By ROY CUMMINGS
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TAMPA – The quote you are about to read is no different than any other quote attributed in recent weeks to Bucs General Manager Mark Dominik. The difference is that Dominik is not the NFL executive being quoted here.

“As an organization we believe in building a team through the draft and being very selective in free agency; I think that’s how you build it. We’re not going to do things a whole lot different than what has been done in the past. If that means signing somebody in free agency, we’re going to do that. We’re going to do what we think is best, but also be responsible.”

Who is the NFL executive preaching responsibility and emphasis on the draft? Well, it’s none other than new Browns president Mike Holmgren, who said these words recently to a reporter for the News Herald in Cleveland.

Now, the simple fact that Holmgren appears to have the same philosophy on how to build a team as Dominik doesn’t make that philosophy good or bad. It does show, though, that Dominik isn’t alone in his thinking, and for some that may be a revelation.

Speaking of revelations, here’s another: there’s a growing sentiment among NFL GMs that maintaining a semblance of fiscal responsibility during this year’s free-agency signing period is a must because no one really knows what the outcome of the collective bargaining talks will be.

What we’re getting at here is the possibility that a cap system much like the one that’s in place now may be a part of the new CBA as well. That means teams that spend wildly during free agency could wind up in some form of salary cap prison that greatly restricts their movements in the very near future.

To avoid that problem a lot teams are contemplating capping their own 2010 player payroll at a figure that is between 9- and 12-percent greater than their 2009 player payroll.

Now, we don’t know if the Bucs are thinking along those lines. If they are, though, you can expect their player payroll to go up from the approximately $84.5 million they spent last year to about $92 million this year.

That may not seem like much but it’s more than the Cowboys ($90 million) reportedly spent on their teams last year and only a little less than what the Vikings ($99 million) and Patriots ($97 Million) reportedly spent on theirs.