solman
Rotational Player and Threatening Starter's Job
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Let's give an example of how one take ADVANTAGE of an uncapped year. There seems to be some perception here that some are advocating that Kraft go wild in free agency by spending obscene amounts. Instead, we are counseling some creative accounting.
Mankins, Seymour, Wilfork are the big 3 for next year, with Mankins being less of a priority because of his position.
Let's just assume, for simplicity sake, that Wilfork will agree to a contract of $10 million per year for 4 years, but he wants half up front.
Normally, that would mean $5 million in bonus + salary counted against the cap each and every year, with the salary not rising more than 30%.
Now, if you're signing contracts in an uncapped year, you can guarantee the bonus as salary. This is what Wilfork's deal might look like.
He wants $20 million in the first year, right? So...
Year 1: $15 million salary + $5 million signing bonus
Year 2: $5.7 million salary
Year 3: $6.7 million salary
Year 4: $7.7 million salary
Cap impact:
Year 1: uncapped
Year 2: $7.4 million
Year 3: $8.4 million
Year 4: $9.4 million
You've essentially saved yourself $10 million of cap space in later years.
Exactly right. Two caveats:
1. If the player is suspended or otherwise unable to fulfill his contract after the first year, you can't get back the money spent in this manner.
2. The next CBA hasn't been written yet. It can easily be written to count money from early years against the cap in latter years. If many owners pull this sort of crap, Goodell is likely to insist on this. (Of course the union can insist on not doing this, but no deal means no football).