NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement

Article 7
Rookie Compensation and Rookie Compensation Pool

Section 7(g)(v)
Fifth-Year Option for First Round Selections

(g)(v)

For any Drafted Rookie selected in the first round of the 2018 or any subsequent Draft, the entire Paragraph 5 Salary for the Fifth-Year Option shall become guaranteed for skill, injury, and Salary Cap-related termination, effective upon the Club’s exercise of the Option. In the event that the entire Paragraph 5 Salary for the fourth year of the player’s Rookie Contract is not guaranteed for skill, injury, and Salary Cap-related termination, the non-guaranteed amount shall become guaranteed for skill, injury, and Salary-Cap related termination effective upon the Club’s exercise of the Option. Upon exercise of the Option, the above-described guarantees shall be subject to the terms and conditions of any pre-existing individually negotiated non-compensation term in year four of the player’s contract relating to the forfeiture of guarantees (also referred to as “void provisions” in this Subsection for the sake of convenience), to the extent permitted in Article 4, Section 9(g) (“Voiding of Guarantees”). In addition to applying to the previously non-guaranteed amount in the fourth League Year of the player’s contract, the year-four guarantee void provision shall be carried forward to, and shall be applicable to, the player’s Paragraph 5 Salary in the fifth League Year of his contract (the “option year”) unchanged except to the extent necessary to effect the enforceability of such provisions (e.g., without limitation, changes regarding the applicable contract year of such provisions and the amount of the year-five guarantee). Any such changes shall be deemed to have been automatically made effective upon the Club’s exercise of the Option. The year-four guarantee, which is applicable to both: (i) the previously non-guaranteed amount of a player’s yearfour Paragraph 5 Salary; and (ii) the player’s Paragraph 5 Salary in the option year, shall be void if the player breaches the terms and conditions of that guarantee: (i) at any time in the fourth League Year of the player’s contract after the Option has been exercised; or (ii) at any time in the fifth League Year of the player’s contract after the Option has been exercised. By way of example, without limitation to other examples, if a player’s year-four Paragraph 5 Salary is $4 million, of which $3 million is guaranteed upon contract execution for Skill, Injury, and Salary Cap-related termination subject to an individually negotiated void provision, and the player’s Paragraph 5 Salary for his Fifth-Year Option is $9 million, and the Club elects to exercise that Option on May 2 of the contract’s fourth League Year, then the previously non-guaranteed $1 million of the player’s year-four Paragraph 5 Salary and the full $9 million of the player’s Paragraph 5 Salary in the fifth League Year would become guaranteed for Skill, Injury, and Salary Cap-related termination upon exercise of the Club’s Option, subject to the individually negotiated void provision applicable to the $3 million Paragraph 5 Salary guarantee, which void provision would become applicable to the previously non-guaranteed amount of the player’s year-four Paragraph 5 Salary, and would carry forward, and become applicable to, the $9 million Paragraph 5 Salary guarantee in the option year. If at any time after the Fifth-Year Option is exercised on May 2 of the fourth year of the contract, including at any time during the fifth League Year, the player breaches the terms and conditions of the guarantee, then the guarantee applicable to the previously non-guaranteed amount of the player’s year-four Paragraph 5 Salary of $1 million and the $9 million Paragraph 5 Salary in the option year shall automatically be null and void. For the avoidance of doubt, in this example the $3 million that was guaranteed upon contract execution for skill, injury and Salary Cap-related termination (i.e., not as the result of the Club’s exercise of the Option as described above) shall at all times remain subject to the terms of the provision in the player’s Rookie Contract relating to the voiding of that year-four guarantee. For the avoidance of doubt, in the event that guarantee has voided as the result of a prior breach of its terms and conditions, the entire amount of the player’s Paragraph 5 Salary in year four shall become guaranteed for skill, injury, and Salary Cap-related termination upon exercise of the Option, subject to the further terms and conditions of this Subsection.