Renegotiations

Details Of Marcel Reece’s New Contract

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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Last week Ian Rapoport of NFL.com reported that Raiders FB Marcel Reece signed a contract extension that would provide for the largest guarantee ever for a Fullback. We now can share the details of the contract.

According to a league source Reece will now earn $12.45 million over the next four seasons with an opportunity to max the contract out at $12.95 million via Pro Bowl incentives. Reece was scheduled to earn $1.423 million in 2013, so the new money in the contract is actually $11,027,000. Upon signing the contract Reece is guaranteed $4,116,294, which is comprised of a $3.52 million signing bonus and the balance of his Paragraph 5, which was reduced to $630,000.

Reece’s $2.95 million salary In 2014 is guaranteed for injury only but will vest on the 3rd day of the League Year and be protected for skill, injury, and salary cap termination. In 2015 the base salary is $2.55 million and in 2016 it will be $2.6 million. Reece can earn workout bonuses of  $50,000 each year.

While these numbers are lower than the initial reports, these are still very strong numbers for a Fullback in the NFL and the highest full guarantee upon signing given to a FB that I can recall.

View Marcel Reece’s Contract and Salary Cap Page

View Marcel Reece’s Financial Chart

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Panthers Save $4.26 Million in Cap Space With Charles Johnson Restructure

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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It appears as if the Carolina Panthers have restructured the contract of DE Charles Johnson late last week, converting his remaining base salary into a prorated bonus.  Johnsons salary was reduced from $6.75 million to $715,000 for the remainder of the season. Johnson’s new salary cap number is $8,740,000 which amounts to $4.26 million in savings.

The restructure will increase his cap figure in 2014 to $16.42 million and his dead money to $16.26 million. In 2015 his dead money increased from $6 million to $8.84 million while his cap rises to $17.42 million.

If I hear anything else on the contract and why they needed the extra cap space I will pass it along.

View Charles Johnson’s Contract and Salary Cap Page

View Charles Johnson’s Financial Report

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Manny Ramirez New Contract Worth Up To 6 Million With Broncos

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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Broncos’ Center Manny Ramirez signed a two year extension two days ago and we can now report the full numbers on the contract. Per a league source Ramirez’ contract is worth $3.15 million in base value with potential to earn an additional $2.85 million in incentives over the life of the contract.

Ramirez’ base salary remains intact in 2013 and he also received a $500,000 signing bonus. The signing bonus is the only portion of the contract that is guaranteed, though his salary for the current season is essentially guaranteed anyway. Ramirez now has a playtime incentive worth $250,000 in 2013. His base salary in 2014 will be $1.25 million and he can earn an additional $1 million in playtime incentives. In 2015 Ramirez’ base salary will be $1.4 million and the incentive rises to $1.6 million.

View Manny Ramirez’ Contract and Salary Cap Page

View Manny Ramirez Financial Report

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Steelers Clear $1.5 Million in Cap with Heath Miller Restructure

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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Yesterday it was reported that TE Heath Miller restructured his contract to help the injury riddled Steelers find the cap space to sign replacements for the three injured players. For those curious Miller converted $3 million of his salary into a prorated bonus, thus freeing up $1.5 million in cap room.

The Steelers had almost no choice but to restructure another contract. Coming into Tuesday, Pittsburgh only had around $1.5 million in cap space available to use during the season. Season ending injuries to LB Larry Foote, RB LaRod Stephens-Howling, and C Maurkice Pouncey saw the Steelers’ Active roster drop from 53 to 50 players. None of these contracts contained split salaries to provide for salary cap relief in the event of injury. To make matters worse K Shaun Suisham injured his hamstring and is expected to miss time, forcing them to carry two kickers on the roster.

This “doomsday” scenario illustrates many of the items we have discussed in regard to the importance of salary cap space during the season and why teams often sit on unused cap room. The cost to replace those players is at least $1,143,529 and that figure would be if you replaced them with rookies. Considering the injured players are two starters and a split starter as well as the Steelers’ general construction it is unrealistic to consider them signing anyone except capable veteran players and that comes at a price- at least $555,000 per player on a minimum salary benefit style contract.

The Steelers signings of RB Johnathan Dwyer, C Fernando Velasco, and K Shayne Graham cost the team $1,637,647 in cap space, meaning they could not have executed the moves without restructuring Miller’s contract. The Steelers, even after the restructure, only have $1.38 million in cap space. If their run of bad luck continues expect the team to have to restructure more contracts just to function in 2013.

View Heath Millers Contract and Salary Cap Page

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Saints Restructure Contract of P Thomas Morstead

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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According to NFLPA records the Saints have restructured the contract of P Thomas Morstead. The move is a simple restructure in which the team converted $1.25 million of Morstead’s salary into a bonus to gain $1 million in cap space. As of Friday the Saints had about $934,000 in cap room. Adding $1 million to that figure gives New Orleans a bit more breathing room during the 2013 season.

View Thomas Morstead’s Contract and Salary Cap Page

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Per Brian McIntyre: Chargers Restructure Contract of Philip Rivers

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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According to the excellent Brian McIntyre, the Chargers restructured the contract of QB Philip Rivers, converting $5 million of his base salary into a signing bonus.

We updated our cap pages to reflect the move which should save the Chargers $3.33 million in cap room in 2013. The timing of the restructure seemed a bit odd, but the Chargers were a team that had limited cap space and likely needed more to function during the season. As our friend Ian pointed out on Twitter there were options to either add cap charges to other players expected to be with the team in future seasons or simply add a bit more dead money to a player few expect to be with the club in 2014. Rivers dead money charge in 2014 now jumps from just $1.2 million to $4.534 million, which is still a reasonable number if they were to trade Rivers.

Though cap carryover has always existed to some extent in the CBA, the new rules which carry over all unused dollars make restructures like this more or less meaningless in cap management unless followed by an accompanying move that compromises future cap years. Why is that the case?  We’ll use Rivers as the example.

Assuming that the Chargers have determined that there is a high probability of moving on from Rivers next season you have one of two scenarios. The first is that you let him play out his contract. If he did that he would count for $17.11 million in cap charges in 2013 and $1.2 million in dead money in 2014. There would be no additional carryover. Scenario two is restructuring Rivers to have an emergency fund of cap dollars to use in 2013 in the event of injuries. His new cap saves the team $3.334 million in cap in 2013. If none of that is used it is simply carried over to 2014 as an offset to the $4.534 million dead charge, bringing the real effect right back to $1.2 million. The net effect is zero, its just deferring when the team accounts for the $3.334 million.  The key is to earmark the 2013 savings only for emergency, rather than trades or un-needed extensions that do make the effects of the restructure hurt future cap years.

View Phillip Rivers Contract and Salary Cap Page

View Philip Rivers Financial Report

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Harvey Dahl Restructured Contract Details

Posted on by Jason Fitzgerald

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Yesterday we had mentioned that Rams G Harvey Dahl had restructured his contract to provide cap relief for the team and today we have the details of the move. According to a league source with knowledge of the contract Dahl actually took a pay cut of $1.25 million on  the season with an opportunity to earn that money back via incentives based on playing time.

Dahl was scheduled to earn a non guaranteed base salary of $4 million in 2013. His new base salary is a fully guaranteed $850,000 and he was also given a $1.9 million dollar roster bonus to bring the full guarantee to $2.75 million for the season. Because the contract was signed after the final preseason game the roster bonus should be prorated for salary cap purposes, which was not the Rams intention. To avoid the proration the Rams placed a player controlled void clause in the contract to allow the full roster bonus to count on  the cap in 2013.  To void the deal Dahl would be required to pay back the roster bonus.

The Rams moved $1.5 million of Dahl’s 2014 base salary into a roster bonus due on the 3rd day of the League Year, which is Dahl’s reward for accepting a potential pay cut. This forces the Rams to either pay Dahl $2 million in March or release him early in the free agency period. Such a move helps Dahl avoid being put in a similar position in 2014 if he is still in St Louis where he is asked to take a pay cut in early September.

The renegotiation was important for the sides to get done when they did as incentives placed in contracts during the season are treated as likely to be earned for salary cap purposes. By signing the contract before Week 1 they could still place NLTBE incentives into the contract.

View Harvey Dahl’s Contract and Salary Cap Page

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