I finally understand why we all hate Shanahan, and why the Broncos won 2 Super Bowls

[DomCasual]

Originally Posted by DanT

There were two aspects to the Broncos salary-cap shenanigans. You mentioned one. The other one was the following, from the NFL.COM news story:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/7687802
"The investigation also uncovered an undisclosed 1997 commitment by the Broncos not to waive a player prior to a certain date. That commitment had the effect of converting the player's roster bonus into a guarantee, which affected the timing of the salary cap treatment of a portion of the bonus."

Guaranteed roster-bonus money is treated the same as salary bonus money as far as the cap calculations are concerned, so it's theoretically possible that the roster bonus money should have been prorated over the length of the contract, which could have had implications for the Broncos total salary cap figure in 1997 or adjacent seasons. However, I do not know if it did have such implications (because the NFL and the Broncos have been tight-lipped to the general public). The net effect that this indiscretion would have had on the Broncos during their outstanding 1996-98 run would depend on what the roster bonus was and who it was for (and, therefore, whether it was likely to be earned).

Interesting. Nice find - I hadn't seen that one before. I'd love to know who the player was.

Thanks for the effort on finding it.