Somebody explain this nonsense to me.

[O.city]

I don't know if thats right. The signing bonus can be spread over the deal, but they're on the hook for 26 mil, not just 15.

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by O.city

I don't know if thats right. The signing bonus can be spread over the deal, but they're on the hook for 26 mil, not just 15.

Bowe's contract shows how tricky contracts have become to interpret. I just read into his contract and have to retract my original post. Some base salary money is now becoming guaranteed (I didn't realize that was happening).

Essentially... Bowe is guaranteed $20M. It's pretty much a given that because of the huge cap implications of cutting him in year 2, the remaining $6M are pretty much guaranteed too.

[htismaqe]

Originally Posted by O.city

I don't know if thats right. The signing bonus can be spread over the deal, but they're on the hook for 26 mil, not just 15.

His 2013 base salary counts against the 2013 cap. His 2014 base salary counts against the 2014 cap.

His signing bonus is prorated against the cap, so it counts $3M against the cap each of the contact's 5 years.

If he plays all 5 years, the signing bonus never counts more than $3M against the cap in any given year. However, if he is cut at any point, the remaining un-accounted for portion of that signing bonus is accelerated to count against that year's cap.

So if they cut him after year 3, there's no salary to account for against the cap. and the remainder of his signing bonus would count $9M against the cap. His base salary is not guaranteed, so the Chiefs would save a couple million against the cap by cutting him.