Re: Oldnotdead speculates on a possible offseason trade scenario…

Take a look a Hunter's contract (below). It shows cap hits of around $12M, $13M, and $11M in the next three season. Those are the cap hits the Vikings will absorb if they keep him. But it's not what the Rams would be hit with if they traded for him.

See the money shown under "Prorated Bonus"? That is money the Vikings already paid him and those cap hits would remain with the Vikings if they traded him away.

So what would the Rams be responsible for if they traded for him?

In 2022 there would be a cap hit of only $2M. The salary of $1.4M, the $500,000 for Per Game Roster Bonus, and another $100,000 Workout Bonus. And that's it. The other $10.62M would stay with the Vikings.

In 2023 there would be a cap hit of $5.5M. The salary of $4.9M, the $500,000 for Per Game Roster Bonus, and another $100,000 Workout Bonus. And that's it.

If the trade was completed after June 1 then the Vikings would retain that $10.62M cap hit for 2022 and then get another cap hit in 2023 for the rest of the pro-rated bonus to the tune of $18.86M.

Note that a post-June 1 trade doesn't cause the cap hit to be split evenly over two years. How that works is the 2022 cap hit applies to the 2022 cap and all remaining cap money applies to the 2023 cap. (Also note that none of that prorated bonus cap money can be passed along to the Rams. The Vikings eat all $29.48M of it.)

As things stand, Hunter would be under contract with the Rams for 2022 and 2023 for a total of $7.5M. If the Rams did want to extend Hunter for 4 years then the extension would start with the 2024 season, when Hunter will be 30 years old. Adding a void year in year 5 would be an effective way to defer some cap hit to the 2028 season, but adding a void year in year 6 would be useless since a signing bonus can only be prorated over 5 seasons.

For me, here's the bottom line. The Vikings would eat over $29M in dead money if they trade Hunter. Or they can keep him for another 2 years for 'only' $7.5M. If I'm the Vikings, I fork over $7.5M for two more years of Hunter and solve my WR problem some other way. (All assuming the the Vikes even think they have a WR problem.)

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AlbaNY_Ram



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2022 05:38PM by AlbaNY_Ram.