Re: The Colts troll's
take on Dillon's cap hit
The contract didn't make sense at the time and it doesn't make sense now. This was not one of the better contracts the Patriots have ever done.
1)I am not too smartly with this stuff but tell me if this right:
a) if we release him now (before March 1) it will cost $3.5 M against the 2007 cap but there will be no money on the books in 2008
b) if we keep him on the roster for 2007 we pay a $4.5M cap hit (assuming he reports)
2) Any impact to releasing him after March 1?
3) What happens if he is released after June 1?
What would you do? and what do you think the Patriots will do?
Jus my opinion but with my limited knowledge this seems like a ploy. I would not release him.
Here are the salient portions of the Dillon deal as we know it from Miguel's site:
"April 13, 2005 update Adamjt13 reported that "Dillon got a $3 million renegotiation bonus, so his cap number for this year was lowered to $2,151,160.
Next year, along with his $3 million salary, he has a $3 million option bonus. If the option isn't exercised, his salary goes to $6 million and is guaranteed. He has no other bonuses later in the contract. No word yet on any incentives." Here's how I come up with the $2,151,160. Salary - $1,000,000; Old Signing Bonus Proration $545,000; New Signing Bonus Proration $600,000; Workout Bonus money - $6,160.
March 23, 2006 - Noticed that Dillon's 2006 salary changed on the NFLPA.org website. It used to be listed as $3,000,000. It is now listed as $710,000. If we presume that the difference (2,290,000) was converted into a signing bonus, then the Pats saved $1,717,500 this year while adding $572,500 to his cap hits in 2007,2008, and 2009.
April 30, 2006 - Ron Borges of the Boston Globe reported that
Dillon "is due a $3 million option bonus and $2.5 million in salary in 2007".
July 23, 2006 - Upon further research it now appears to me that
in exchange for getting the $2.29 million upfront Dillon agreed to defer the $3 million option bonus to 2007. I do not know if the 2007 option bonus was protected with a non-exercise guarantee clause as was the 2006 option bonus but I doubt that it was.
December 17, 2006 Mike Reiss of the Boston Globe reported that "Dillon's contract expires after the 2009 season, although with a $4.42 million hit on the '07 salary cap, he could be a candidate for restructuring."
I have a feeling Miguel's assumption that the non-exercise guarantee clause was removed when Dillon deferred the $3M option to 2007 may not have been correct. Although it could be a simple as Corey saying I'm not playing again for $2.5M, I won't cooperate with a restructure to lower my cap hit that doesn't pay me more than $2.5M, so the team said OK you are good to go rather than 'cause themselves a distraction and potential locker room disruption. It could also be that in exchange for removing the non-exercise guarantee language when they deferred the option they agreed to release him on request if they did not exercise the option in 2007.
It could be a lot of things, including BB simply feels Corey was right when he uttered the words "I'm done" following the AFCC, but unless his agent is lying they have already agreed to release him. I think the confusion has arisen mostly because Corey sounds like a man anticipating retirement as a result, while his agent prefers to hold that thought in this cap flush market. Feldman just lost between $75-165,000 in commission income. If somebody else offers Corey say a 2 year deal for $6M plus some incentives with $2M in signing bonus and $2.0M in salary, (a $3M cap hit), and $4M motivates Corey to strap 'em on one more time, Feldman stands to recoup $120,000 in commission.
http://patscap.com/capfootnotes.html#dillon
