NFL Salaries by team and position

[Drez]

As someone who is relatively ignorant on cap issues, can somebody explain to me how it works when a player is cut? What money is still owed to the player?

What ever is left of their bonus money.

[jack28]

what is owed to the player and the cap hit are not the same thing.

What is owed to a player is just the guaranteed portion of the contract, if for instance a player signs a 3 year deal worth $30 million, with $10 million per year, and $10 million guaranteed, then if they are cut after the first season, they are owed nothing. The $10 million that was guaranteed was paid in year 1. If he had $20 million guaranteed and was cut after year 1, the team would owe the player another $10 million on top of the $10 million he already made.

How the salary cap works when a player is cut is different, because of the signing bonus. Signing bonus is a portion of money that is given up front to the player, and the cap hit from that signing bonus is distributed equally throughout the length of the players contract.

For instance if a player gets a 3 year contract with a $9 mil signing bonus, the player gets that $9 mil up front, but for the cap, that $9 mil gets distributed to 3 years at $3 million per year.

If the player is cut after year one, only $3 mil of that cap hit has cleared, there is a remaining $6 mil that is owed on the cap. That remaining $6 mil is accelerated to the year the player is released.

Salary cap is made up of the signing bonus + the base salary + whatever other bonuses there are.

I probably didnt explain it real well, its actually a pretty complicated ordeal.

Thanks for explaining that slip! Is cutting a realistic option for Webster etc?

[slipknottin]

Thanks for explaining that slip! Is cutting a realistic option for Webster etc?

We dont have the actual contract details for most of these players, what they restructured to and what other language is in their contract.

As far as I can tell, the only players who have $5+ cap hits next season that are good candidates to release are Boley and Diehl.

Some of the other ones like Rolle would cost the giants quite a bit of cap space to release, but if they instead wait it out, they have huge cap hits the following year. So they may have no choice.

[RoanokeFan]

I mean they command the highest salaries on D.

I was just busting your chops

[BigBlueAllDay]

If signing bonuses are 100% paid upfront, technically no more money is owed to the player when he's cut from the team before the upcoming season's roster bonus options take into effect. Slip gave a good explanation of how signing bonuses affect the salary cap, which works a bit differently than what a player is actually being paid per year.

[slipknottin]

If signing bonuses are 100% paid upfront, technically no more money is owed to the player when he's cut from the team before the upcoming season's roster bonus options take into effect. Slip gave a good explanation of how signing bonuses affect the salary cap, which works a bit differently than what a player is actually being paid per year.

Right, Canty, Webster, Rolle, Diehl, Boley. All those guys have no guaranteed money left. Any of them could be cut and the giants would not owe them any additional money.

Problem is cutting any of them would give the giants a cap penalty.

And cutting them with years left on their contract means all that signing bonus money gets accelerated.

Thats why Boley, being in the last year of his contract, is a better cut, because there is no money to accelerate. Just the signing bonus he has hits the cap, while his entire base salary is eliminated from the cap.

[myles2424]

When you have the highest paid defense,but not even close to the best....there's not much someone could argue to justify that...

[myles2424]

Right, Canty, Webster, Rolle, Diehl, Boley. All those guys have no guaranteed money left. Any of them could be cut and the giants would not owe them any additional money.

Problem is cutting any of them would give the giants a cap penalty.

And cutting them with years left on their contract means all that signing bonus money gets accelerated.

Thats why Boley, being in the last year of his contract, is a better cut, because there is no money to accelerate. Just the signing bonus he has hits the cap, while his entire base salary is eliminated from the cap.

I'd say letting go of boley is a no brainer,save $ & easier replacement then canty/web.....is there anyone else offense or defense that we can let go free & clear, or even a small penalty compared to their salary?

[Captain Chaos]

Some very difficult decisions for Reese and company. Don't know how creative they will be but is sure will be interesting to watch.