Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

[BillsImpossible]

Yes, but it takes an owner with deep pockets and the will to do it.

Peyton Manning and Tom Brady recently restructured their contracts to create more cap room.

Restructuring contracts is one way to get around the cap, but signing bonuses are another way to sign top talent without a huge cap cost.

Signing bonuses are counted towards the cap, but they can be spread out over 5 years.

Any free agent available could be signed by the Bills for a $1 million contract in 2015, $2 million in 2016, and a huge signing bonus that gets divided by 5, which minimizes the cap hit.

So in theory, the Bills could sign a player like Mike Iupati to a 3 year contract by paying him a $10 million signing bonus and $3 million per season.

That's $19 million for 3 years, but the cap hit would only be $5 million.

Could the Bills give Ndamukong Suh a $30 million signing bonus, and a $3 million per year contract for 3 years?

Yes. Instead of having a $13 million cap hit per year, it would be $9 million.

"We can't afford to sign Hughes, Iupati, Suh, and draft picks!"

Yes they can. (No pun intended, seriously.)

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/effect-signing-bonus-salary-cap-38630.html

Each team in the NFL is subject to a salary cap. Signing bonuses are part of the cap, but with special rules to prevent abuse. To circumvent the cap, teams pay low amounts in the early years of a contract and higher amounts in later years. The contracts are not guaranteed, so teams may release players to avoid the higher salaries. To induce players to sign despite this, the teams pay large signing bonuses that the players can keep even if the team releases them. These bonuses affect the salary cap because they are included, but they can be prorated for up to five years.

http://www.payscale.com/career-news/2008/05/nfl-player-salaries-is-the-nfl-salary-cap-a-sham-

Keep in mind what we know about how NFL contracts work - before the 2007 season, Freeney signed a six-year deal with a $30 million NFL signing bonus.

[Guest]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Your math is all screwed up.

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Your math is all screwed up.

Please enlighten me and the rest of us then with your cap expertise.

[jimmifli]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Bonus gets spread equally over remaining years. Salary counts in the given year. Restructuring just changes salary to bonus.

So a guy earning 10 million for the next 3 years (like Shady) restructures the deal so that he gets $15 million in bonus. That means he now earns $15 in bonus and $15 in Salary. His cap hit in each year is $5 in bonus and $5 in salary. Nothing changed.

Now lets say we change that to a 5 year contract. with $15 million bonus and $5 salary. His cap hit is now $3 bonus plus $5 salary, for a cap savings.

But there is a price to pay. If he retires or gets cut before the last year, any bonus that hasn't been counted yet is pushed into the current year. So if he got cut after year 3, we would have only counted $3x3 of his bonus, leaving $6 million to count against the cap in the 4th year, even though he's no longer on the team.

We usually call it deadcap. There is no way around it. Every dollar spent will eventually count. Teams just use restructuring to push current salary onto future years. But eventually those bills come due. See the NO Saints in 2016.

[Ginger Vitis]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Please enlighten me and the rest of us then with your cap expertise.

Well you're not going to get Iupati for $19 million for 3 years.. His agent can get him a 5 year deal quite easily probably a 6 year deal

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Well you're not going to get Iupati for $19 million for 3 years.. His agent can get him a 5 year deal quite easily probably a 6 year deal

Cash up front counts the most in free agency. "Show me the money."

Would a player rather get $8 million a season over 5 years, or $40 million upfront?

Kind of like asking if you want the lump sum lottery payment, or an amount spread out over 30 years to the average person.

[Guest]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Please enlighten me and the rest of us then with your cap expertise.

So in theory, the Bills could sign a player like Mike Iupati to a 3 year contract by paying him a $10 million signing bonus and $3 million per season.

That's $19 million for 3 years, but the cap hit would only be $5 million.

No the cap hit is $6.33M per year.

Could the Bills give Ndamukong Suh a $30 million signing bonus, and a $3 million per year contract for 3 years?

Yes. Instead of having a $13 million cap hit per year, it would be $9 million.

No the cap hit is $13M per year.

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

So in theory, the Bills could sign a player like Mike Iupati to a 3 year contract by paying him a $10 million signing bonus and $3 million per season.

That's $19 million for 3 years, but the cap hit would only be $5 million.

No the cap hit is $6.33M per year.

Could the Bills give Ndamukong Suh a $30 million signing bonus, and a $3 million per year contract for 3 years?

Yes. Instead of having a $13 million cap hit per year, it would be $9 million.

No the cap hit is $13M per year.

A $30 million signing bonus equals $6 million per year over 5 years.

$3 million per season contract plus the $6 million per season singing bonus hit equals a $9 million cap hit.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

A $30 million signing bonus equals $6 million per year over 5 years.

$3 million per season contract plus the $6 million per season singing bonus hit equals a $9 million cap hit.

The signing bonus only amortizes over five years if the contract is five years or longer. If you sign a guy to a three year deal, the bonus only splits over three years.

And I don't know if you intended those as specific examples, but those contract offers are pathetically low for players of Iupati's and Suh's value. Suh, at least, is going to get a contract worth at least twice that in nominal value and at least $50 million guaranteed.

[IlluminatusUIUC]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

Here's an example: John McCown's deal signed with Cleveland last week: http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cleveland...s/josh-mccown/

The $2 million bonus is spread over the 3 years, $667 K per.

[BillsImpossible]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

$39 million for Suh over 3 years equals $13 million per season on average.

$19 million for Iupati over 3 years equals almost $6.5 million per season.

If players are like most people, they want the upfront signing bonus money now, not later.

[jamze132]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

$39 million for Suh over 3 years equals $13 million per season on average.

$19 million for Iupati over 3 years equals almost $6.5 million per season.

If players are like most people, they want the upfront signing bonus money now, not later.

True, but both of those players are going to get more money both upfront and in the long term than what you are suggesting. More years too.

[Night Train]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

I see OG/OT talent in this draft (legit starter types) available in Rounds 2-3 and beyond... so I personally don't feel any pressure to overpay for OL in FA.

[better days]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

I think the point Bills Impossible is making is that the Bills now have an owner with the resources & the will to COMPETE in the NFL.

Cash to CRAP is DEAD.

I posted before that it was announced on WGR that the Bills will restructure McCoys contract, giving him guaranteed money which will also give the Bills more cap room.

[X-Era]

Re: Can The Bills Get Around The NFL Salary Cap and Load Up On Talent Too?

I think the point Bills Impossible is making is that the Bills now have an owner with the resources & the will to COMPETE in the NFL.

Cash to CRAP is DEAD.

I posted before that it was announced on WGR that the Bills will restructure McCoys contract, giving him guaranteed money which will also give the Bills more cap room.

True. But to be fair, the statement that all the money eventually counts is also true unless you trade the player.

I think the bigger point is that just because a contract is 5 years, 50 million does not necessarily mean it's a 10 mill cap hit every year...

Who knows what the final deal will look like but I don't think an 8 mill hit this year for McCoy is out of the question.