I don't think so

Quote
Stafford9
I hope he restructures I do not like voiding the last two years because he is going to want a higher pay day. right?

I don't think it works that way. Right now Stafford's deal runs thru the '26 season. If they added a couple years at the end with no salary I don't see how that impacts Stafford one way or the other.

Look at these two hypothetical contracts for Sample PlayerX:

Contract 1:
2024: $31M salary = cap hit of $31M
2025: $27M salary = cap hit of $27M
2026: $26M salary = cap hit of $26M

Contract 2:
2024: $31M salary = cap hit of $31M
2025: $27M salary = cap hit of $27M
2026: $26M salary = cap hit of $26M
2027: $0 salary = cap hit of $0
2028: $0 salary = cap hit of $0

If this player is playing under Contract 1 and the team asks him to add those two void years and then play under Contract 2 the player is not impacted. He makes the same money at the same time and becomes a free agent in 2027 either way.

So why bother? Well, it helps the team out if the next step is to convert some of that 2024 salary to a signing bonus. They would get more cap relief in '24, '25, and '26 under the second contract since the cap hit is spread over 5 years instead of 3.

And why would the player agree to any of this? He gets $25M today instead of getting that money in weekly installments over the 18 week NFL season. I can't imagine a player saying 'no' to that.

To illustrate the cap impacts under both contracts when $25M of the 2024 salary is converted to a signing bonus:

Contract 1:
2024: $6M salary + $8.33M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $14.33M
2025: $27M salary + $8.33M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $35.33M
2026: $26M salary + $8.33M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $34.33M

Contract 2:
2024: $6M salary + $5M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $11M
2025: $27M salary + $5M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $32M
2026: $26M salary + $5M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $31M
2027: $0 salary + $5M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $5M
2028: $0 salary + $5M pro rated signing bonus = cap hit of $5M

Note that the team gets $3.33M more cap relief under Contract 2 than with Contract 1 in 2024, 2025, and 2026. That advantage comes with a cost, though: $10M dead money in 2027.

Note also that all four of the contract examples show a total of $84M against the cap for this player. The only scam the team is playing is manipulating when they pay the piper.

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AlbaNY_Ram



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/14/2024 10:23AM by AlbaNY_Ram.