Quote:
Originally Posted by Direckshun
As we all know, I am not a very smart person.
So in a recent thread, with Just Passin' By posted a link about Brandon Flowers' contract specifics (to answer the question "how much would we save against the cap if we cut Flowers"), I, of course, became flummoxed.
Here's the link.
So, I want you to pretend you're talking to your 12 year old son (I like to think of myself as ChiefsPlanet's 12 year old son, anyway):
What do these words mean? - Base Salary
- Prorated Bonus
- Roster Bonus
- Workout Bonus
- Other Bonus
- Cap Number
- Dead Money
- Cap Savings
Also: - What's the difference between Cap Flow and Cash Flow?
- What's a Cash Bonus?
- What's a Cash Number?
- What's Cash-To-Cash?
- What the hell is on this page?
I thank you for your time. |
An NFL contract basically consists of guaranteed money and non-guaranteed money.
Guaranteed money is the signing bonus. You earn that simply by signing the contract. Because this money is guaranteed, a team has to pay you that money. In order to make the contract more manageable under the salary cap, they will spread the signing bonus (or "prorate" the bonus) over X number of years. If you have a $10M signing bonus spread over 5 years, if you cut that player after year 1, they have to take an $8M hit on the cap. If you cut him in year 2, you take a $6M hit on the cap. Because you're paying for a player not on the roster, that's called dead money.
Non-guaranteed money means you have to earn it. Base salary is earned by playing in games. Roster bonuses are earned by making the roster. Workout bonuses are incentives to encourage players to work out in the offseason (because the players union limits mandatory workouts a team can hold). Other incentives can be earned if they make the pro bowl, etc.... If the team decides to cut you tomorrow, then you don't earn any of this money. Hence... non-guaranteed.
I don't know what the **** most of those other things are on the bottom of the list. If I'm explaining that to a 12 year old kid, I'd say "I don't know what the devil most of those other things are."