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Broncos Announce Pending Release of QB Russell Wilson

The Denver Broncos made it official today, announcing the decision to part ways with QB Russell Wilson just two years after making a highly publicized trade for him and subsequently signing him to a massive contract extension. The release comes as no surprise as we had speculated on this possibility just a few months after he signed the five year, $245 million contract extension with the Broncos and it was clear at the end of the 2023 season that they did not envision a future with Wilson.

The dead money associated with the contract is gigantic. The $85 million in dead money dwarfs the prior high of $40.525 million that came from Matt Ryan with the Falcons as well as Ryan’s NFL leading career total of $58.525 million. The Broncos still owe him $39 million in cash salary, far and away the most any team has ever owed a player they will cut. Cutting him does allow the team to avoid another $37 million from being guaranteed.

The Broncos will need to utilize a post June 1 salary cap designation for Wilson. By doing this the team will keep his cap number at $35.4 million until June 2nd but the cap treatment after that is based on whether or not they pick up his option prior to his release. I am murky on the rules of using a June 1 in the same year after picking up an option but assuming that is allowed he should count for $35.4 million on the cap in 2024 and then $49.6 million in 2025. If they renounce the option, his 2024 cap number I believe would be $53 million in 2024 and then $32 million in 2025.

This trade will likely go down in history as the worst trade since the Vikings trade for Herschel Walker and the contract will arguably be looked at as one of the worst, if not the worst, of all time. Had the Broncos followed the Rams model with Matt Stafford of “try before you buy” they would have paid Wilson $24 million in 2022 and moved on in 2023 with no other damage. Instead Wilson earned $124 million from the Broncos who rushed into an extension the summer of the trade..

Wilson’s $39 million salary does have offsets but there would be no incentive for any team to offer Wilson more than the league minimum of $1.21 million since all they would be doing is paying the Broncos. There are ways around the offsets on a longer term contract if a team was willing to do a two year deal with Wilson and tie future guaranteed escalators to 2024 performance.

Chiefs Officially Franchise CB L’Jarius Sneed

The Chiefs made it official today, announcing that they have placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. Sneed was one of the key contributors to the Chiefs defensive success and should be in line to earn a top tier contract at the position. The Chiefs have indicated according to reports that they would be open to trading Sneed while on the tag.

The one year tender is worth $19.802 million. While tendered Sneed is still capable of negotiating with other teams in the NFL just as any other free agent. The cost of signing another team’s franchise player is two first round draft picks but there is nothing that prevents a team from working out a deal with the Chiefs for less compensation. This is most likely how the situation would play out with the Chiefs taking less than two first rounders in exchange for Sneed if he can find a contract in free agency from a team willing to part with a draft pick. If Sneed signs the tender the $19.802 million is fully guaranteed. He can still be traded even after signing the tender.

The Chiefs use the franchise tag more than any other team in the NFL. They have used the tag on Branden Albert in 2013, Justin Houston in 2015, Eric Berry in 2016, Dee Ford in 2019, Chris Jones in 2020, and Orlando Brown in 2022. Houston and Jones were signed to long term contracts while tagged, Berry played out his tag and then re-signed with the Chiefs the following year. Ford was traded in 2019 while Albert and Brown left the Chiefs the season after playing on the tag.

The Chiefs currently have about $3.5 million in cap room following the tag being placed on Sneed.

Panthers to move on from CB Donte Jackson

The Carolina Panthers are apparently prepared to move on from cornerback Donte Jackson per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.

Jackson has spent his entire six year career with the Panthers and had started every game he was healthy for since 2020. Jackson had signed a three year $35.18 million contract with the team back in 2022. His cap number jumped up to $15.7M this year and that is probably part of the reason that the team would be looking to move on. If cut or traded Jackson will count for $9.78 million in dead money, opening up about $5.9 million in cap room for the Panthers.

If Jackson were traded the acquiring team would take on his $10.62 million salary. The Panthers have until the second day of the league year to trade Jackson unless they want to pay $4 million of his salary which is earned on the third day of the league year. They will probably explore trades over the next week and then release him if no trade looks to be possible. The Panthers currently have $35 million in cap room but that will take a massive hit if they franchise pass rusher Brian Burns which probably adds more to the reason for moving on from Jackson.

The Salary Cap Costs of Trading Marshon Lattimore

Some of the news coming out of the combine this week is that some teams believe that Saints CB Marshon Lattimore is on the trade block, which is not surprising given that the Saints renegotiated his contract last December to open up the possibility of a trade. The contract can be a bit confusing so I decided to put together this post and try to explain the ins and outs of the salary cap impact of trading Lattimore.

The contract structure

Lattimore’s original contract called for a salary of $15 million in 2024 of which $12 million was fully guaranteed. That contract would have left the Saints with a cap charge of about $26 million in 2024 which was not a number they likely could handle on their salary cap. While they could have restructured his contract prior to the start of the league year just like they do everyone else that would have blocked the team from being able to trade him.

Instead, the Saints proactively worked with Lattimore to adjust his contract so they could lower his salary cap charge like in a restructure but also maintaining the ability to trade him in 2024. The team did this by reducing his base salary to the league minimum and converting the rest of his salary to an option bonus that would prorate over five years. This would bring his salary cap charge down to $14.6 million.

The difference here is that the Saints would not be responsible for paying Lattimore in the event that he was traded as long as the trade occurs prior to the exercise of the option. This follows a model that was first designed I believe by Philadelphia and made notable by the Packers as a way that they could trade Aaron Rodgers in 2023. So this restructure basically announced to the NFL that Lattimore is available if you want him.

The rest of the contract for Lattimore remained the same with salaries of $18 and $18.5 million in 2025 and 2026 plus some void years thrown on there for salary cap purposes.

The cost of a trade for the Saints

If the Saints were to trade Lattimore they still have to account for all of the money that he had received as a bonus, which is a lot since the Saints have had to restructure his contract for cap relief so many times. In the three years he has been under contract, he has been paid $53.2 million in signing bonuses to just $3.1 million in base salary and other bonuses. At a minimum that means the Saints have to account for $31.27 million in cap charges if he is traded prior to June 1. This would cause the Saints to lose over $16 million in cap room and would not make much sense for them.

Trading in the summer allows the Saints to use the benefit of the post June 1 treatment of those bonuses and have it work a bit better on their salary cap. In both cases the team would also need to account for the option prorations of which they would receive a credit the following year since it was not paid, but odds are the Saints might follow a similar mode to the Packers and Jets and negotiate the option out of 2024 and into 2025 and then have the team that trades for him put it back in 2024 after the trade. Here is what the cap charges look like in the different scenarios.

Trade date20242025
Pre June 1$31,278,154$0
Post June 1 (option out)$10,648,317$20,629,837
Post June 1 (option still in)$13,406,317$17,871,837

Note that in the post June 1 option where the option remains in the contract that his 2025 dead money will technically be the $20.6 million number but they will have a cap adjustment to increase their cap room by $2.758 million, so the $17.8M is the net impact on their cap in 2025.

The numbers make it pretty clear why this would be a summer rather than spring trade and the team has until late August to move him. After that time the Saints become responsible for keeping him. At that point they would still have his $14.6 million cap charge this year but his dead money in 2025 would then be $31.67 million, again backing the team into a corner with his contract.

What is the cost to the acquiring team?

The team trading for Lattimore would take on his contract as is. They would have the decision to either pick up the option to defer the cap charges or to simply take all of the hit in 2024. Here is the cost on the cap if the team picks up the option in the contract:

YearSalary Cap ChargeDead Money
2024$3,968,000$13,790,000
2025$20,758,000$11,032,000
2026$21,258,000$8,274,000
2027 (void)$5,516,000$5,516,000

Here is what the charges look like if the option is not exercised and the team simply pays the salary.

YearSalary Cap ChargeDead Money
2024$15,000,000$12,000,000
2025$18,000,000$0
2026$18,500,000$0
2027 (void)$0$0

So basically the structure of the contract allows any team in the NFL to trade for Lattimore because the cap charge could be as low as $4 million in 2024 and the team would still have an option to release him the next year with minimal cap charges. Lattimore has no guaranteed money in his contract after 2024 so there is nothing that would lock a team into him beyond this year.

What might trade compensation look like?

Probably not too much. Jalen Ramsey who was just one year older was traded for a 3rd round pick and a 3rd round tight end who never saw the field in two years. Lattimore is not considered as good as Ramsey and has a far more extensive injury history. Both cases are going to be seen as salary dumps which lessens the value. So you might be looking at something like a 5th round pick being the base compensation. The benefit for the Saints is because this would be a trade that happens post draft it may be easier to get conditions on availability and team success that could get it close to the Ramsey range. The Saints would probably want to get the trade done before the start of camp which would limit their liability in the event of Lattimore being injured in camp.

Should the Saints make this trade?

I think so. The Saints are busy digging out of a massive salary cap hole and they clearly saw Lattimore as one of the few pieces they are willing to move so if the situation presents itself they should go for it. If they do not make the trade this year it may only be harder to move him in 2025 and there is no guarantee that he would be willing to modify his contract to help the Saints with the cap after they already dangled him out there for a trade.

Commanders to Release C Nick Gates

Washington’s house cleaning continued yesterday with news that the Commanders informed center Nick Gates that he will be released at the start of the season per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

Gates had signed with Washington just last season as a free agent on a three year, $16.5 million contract that had $8 million fully guaranteed at signing. Gates started 10 games for Washington last season and was benched during the middle of the season as he took some of the blame for QB Sam Howell taking so many sacks. He regained the job at the end of the season due to injuries.

The release is a little surprising since Gates was not awful last year, basically ranked as average by Pro Football Focus, and one would think they would have given him an opportunity to compete for the starting job. Perhaps they just did not like the fit with a new offense.

Gates was not expensive this year. His $3.79 million salary ranked 13th among centers and his $5.6 million cap hit 11th. They will not gain any cap room with his release since he has $5.3 million in dead money which will actually wind up causing a slight loss in cap room, though the Commanders have so much cap room this is not a concern. They could use the June 1 designation splitting the dead money at $3.65M in 2024 and $1.67 million in 2025.

Gates has $1.99 million of his $3.79 million salary fully guaranteed. This is the reason why the Commanders can not release him now the way they did Charles Leno and Logan Thomas. Technically we are still in the 2023 league year and that salary would accelerate into 2023 and no team has any remaining 2023 cap room to allow for such a move. That is probably the reason for the delay more than any need to make him a post June 1 designation. The Commanders will receive an offset on any salary he earns with another team this year. That offset will be applied to the Commanders 2025 salary cap.

Commanders Release Leno and Thomas

The Commanders made two expected releases today as they begin their rebuilding process by letting go of veteran left tackle Charles Leno and tight end Logan Thomas. The moves will save the Commanders $13.8 million against the cap, bringing the team to about $90 million in cap room for 2024, the 2nd most in the NFL behind only the Patriots.

Leno had one of the greatest careers for a player selected in the 7th round of the NFL draft. Leno began his career with the Bears in 2014 and became their starting tackle in 2015. He earned a $9.25 million per year extension with the Bears back in 2017, completing all but one year of that contract when he was released in 2021. Leno latched on with the Commanders where he held the starting job for three seasons and was rewarded with a $12.5 million per year contract extension in 2022.

Leno was set to count for $15.53 million on the Commanders salary cap. He will leave the team with $8.25 million in dead money for now and that number should grow slightly by the start of the season. Leno was injured towards the end of the season and should qualify for the injury protection benefit in 2024 and 2025. That amount will be $2.05 million in 2024 with $1.23 million counting on the salary cap. In 2025 it should be around $600,000.

Thomas had just completed his 10th year in the NFL in 2023 and his fourth with the Commanders. Thomas bounced around the NFL for years with pitstops in Arizona, Miami, Detroit, Buffalo, and New York before finding his place with Washington. The Commanders signed Thomas to a two year, $6.14 million contract as a free agent in 2020 and he responded with a great year where he had 670 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns. Washington quickly signed him to a three year extension worth slightly more than $8 million a season but Thomas was already 30 and had trouble staying healthy and recapturing that impact from that 2020 season.

Thomas was set to count for $8.29 million on the salary cap and will cost just $1.75 million in dead money, a savings of $6.54 million. Thomas may also be injury protection eligible as he failed his exit physical when released. If so he would have the same added cap charges as Leno. The Commanders are fifth in the NFL with $21.9M in dead money in 2024.