Post by MidwinterViking on Mar 9, 2022 7:43:30 GMT -6
Prorated Bonus (from 2022): $10M
+guaranteed base salary: $35M
=$45M
Cousins goes to New Orleans (or anywhere else)
The $10M stays with Minnesota as dead cap
$35M base salary transfers to the new team
The new team immediately hands him a $35M check for his entire 2022 pay in one lump sum and some sort of extension that is a combination of 4 years (new contract + Void years)
The $35M is would then count as a signing bonus and be prorated over 5 years (this year plus the new 4 years), making his new salary cap hits:
2022: $7M prorated bonus + veteran minimum salary
2023-2026: $7M prorated bonus + hypothetical new contract year base salary
if he stayed for the full five years then it would be 193m over the last 4 years. If he only stayed for 3 years with a 7m hit in yr 1, 40m in yr 2, and 40m in yrs three then you'd have a dead cap hit of 33m in year 3 unless you kept him whereby you probably be on the hook for a cap hit of over 50m. And you'd still have to take a hit of 7m in that final year.
I guess I'm a little puzzled why you'd put him at a 7m cap hit for 2022. Based on his supposed demands, the cap correction in future years would be enormous. Essentially 40m + 7m per year if he plays the entire 5 years. Otherwise it accelerates. Just doesn't seem realistic.
Also, no. it would not be $193M. 4*$40M = $160M. Don't mix up the money paid to a player with the salary cap hit; those can be two very different numbers.
And the piece we do not know in all of this is what does the NFL expect from the salary cap? Owners will have some sort of insight into new revenue from gambling and streaming services and live sports are growing relatively more valuable in the streaming age (it's the only thing you can really push to make people watch live). The salary cap rebounded by 15% this year. Say it goes up by 12% the next few years after going up by 6-10% pre pandemic. The team also has to opportunity to push future payments further out with future void years. A 4 year $160M extension with cap going up by 12% per year could look something like this:
2022: $1M Base Salary + $6.8M prorated bonus = $35M Paid to Cousins = $7.8M cap hit = 3.7% of total cap
2023: $31M Base salary + $6.8M prorated bonus = $31M Paid to Cousins = $37.8M cap hit = 16.2% of total cap
2024: $37M Base salary + $6.8M prorated bonus = $37M Paid to Cousins = $43.8M cap hit = 16.8% of total cap
Then I'm going to take $20M of the last 2 years and put in in as a roster bonus; the new team could choose to not pay this and let Cousins walk with a dead cap hit of $13.6M or convert it to a signing bonus for:
2025: $33M Base salary + ($6.8M Original bonus + $5M new bonus = $11.8M prorated bonus) = $53M Paid to Cousins (33M base + 20M Bonus) = $44.8M cap hit ($33M Base + $11.8M Prorated bonus) = 15.3% of cap
2026: $39M Base salary + $11.8M prorated bonus = $39M Paid to Cousins = $50.8M cap hit = 15.5% of cap
2027: 2 void years from the new bonus kick in, and the remaining $10M of the new bonus hits as dead cap.
Cousins cost the Vikings 17% of cap in 2021. In this situation the max he would cost is 16.8%. And in any of those years, they can always defer money further out be paying his salary early in the form of a bonus, which would further reduce any particular year.
... and neither is this Chris guy.