Jon Beason To Have Season Ending Surgery

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Add Jon Beason to the list of players who will finish the season on Injured Reserve. Beason’s whose career has been derailed by injuries since 2011, was traded to the Giants in 2013 and made it through the season healthy. He was one of the best players on their defense and because of that received a new 3 year contract from the team in the offseason.

There is always a risk when you sign an often injured player and there is a question as to whether or not this injury likely spells the end of his Giants career. The Giants tried as best as possible to minimize some of that risk by using a number of per game active roster bonuses in his contract.

Since Beason will land on IR after just 7 games, he will lose $450,000 in potential salary this year.  The Giants should receive a $400,000 credit for Beasons lost bonus money that will go towards next years salary cap or be an offset for paying off other incentives earned by others.

Beason has $1.2 million in roster bonuses next season which will now count for $525,000 against the 2015 salary cap. That should leave Beason with an offseason cap charge of $6.69 million with the potential to earn $5.9 million in salary. Those numbers are probably enough to consider parting ways.

$900,000 of Beason’s $3.6 million 2015 salary is guaranteed, but that would likely be offset if he continues to play football and signs with another team. The Giants paid Beason a $4.4 million signing bonus this year so his total dead money charge would be $3.83 million.  That would amount to a cap space increase of  about $2.85 million.

The Giants should have over $20 million in cap space next year assuming a $140 million cap which puts them in the middle of the pack with the NFL, so its not crucial to create cap space. but they do have contract decisions to be made on Antrel Rolle and Jason Pierre Paul. Beason has an offseason roster bonus due the 5th day of the 2015 League Year so any decisions or contract restructures will need to be made before that.

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Giants And Panthers Working on a Trade for Beason?

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There were some online rumors of Jon Beason potentially headed to New York, which Jay Glazer of Fox Sports just confirmed:

For the Giants the addition of Beason would put incredible pressure on their salary cap yet again. New York only ha $1.37 million in cap room as of Thursday and that was after restructuring the contract of Chris Snee for the second time in a month. Assuming that this trade would occur next week, and likely hinge on the Giants winning against the Eagles, Beason would come over to the team with a cap charge of $705,882 if the trade is executed next week, so they could fit him on the roster for the time being.

The problem for the Giants lies in the earning of the remainder of his roster bonuses on the season. Each week that he is active he earns $109,375 from the Giants. This money is counted on the cap immediately which means the Giants could be liable for about $1.3 million in additional cap charges by the end of the season. I guess it is possible the Panthers could absorb those charges ahead of time if the package for Beason is strong enough.

Beason’s contract voids at the end of the season so from the Panthers point of view getting anything back from Beason is likely worth the trade. Beason had originally signed a 5 year, $50 million dollar contract that contained a signing bonus of $20 million dollars in 2011. Injuries have seen him only play in 8 games since the injury, with his 9th game coming up this Sunday. Beason had already taken a paycut from the Panthers this season due to his lack of playing time the last two seasons. He will count $8 million in dead money against the 2014 cap for the Panthers if traded.

Edit: Per Glazer the deal is now done pending a physical. since its a week earlier than I assumed the immediate cap charge will be $874,081. The $1.3 million in incentives will remain if the contract is left unchanged.

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Details on Jon Beason’s Restructure

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I received a lot of questions on this yesterday due to conflicting reports. I have the details of this restructure so here are the details for the savings on the contract and how the contract itself works.

Beason was scheduled to count $9.5 million against the salary cap. That total was comprised of a $5.25 million base salary, $4 in million prorated money, and a $250,000 workout bonus. The prorated and workout bonus money were already sunk costs and are maintained on the salary cap under any restructure.

Beason’s base salary was cut from $5.25 million to $1 million, which was fully guaranteed. Beason also received a roster bonus of $500,000 paid almost immediately, essentially making it guaranteed. Beason has $2.25 million in incentives in the contract that he can unlock. $1.75 million of incentives are tied to games in which Beason is on the active 46 man roster. What that means is for every week Beason suits up to play he will earn $109,375. If Beason is selected to the Pro Bowl he will earn another $500,000 incentive.

For salary cap purposes both incentives are valued according to the rules of the CBA, which value the incentives based on the prior years performance. Beason was active for 4 games in 2013 so $437,500 of the $1.75 million dollar roster bonus counts towards the salary cap as of today. The remaining $1,312,500 is treated as if it will not be earned and does not currently count against the cap. Once earned that money will immediately count against the cap, which means the Panthers will want to carry at least $1.3 million in space to account for Beason. Beason did not make the Pro Bowl last season and his $500,000 PB incentive is strictly NLTBE. The accrual of that bonus, if earned, does not occur until after the season ends. If earned the Panthers will have a downward adjustment on their cap limit for next season.

The restructure saved the Panthers $3,312,500 in cap room. The remaining seasons of Beason’s contract remain untouched. His cap figure in 2014 remains $10.75 million so, unless he plays at a very high level, expect his contract to be an open discussion again next offseason. Beason’s dead money figure is $8 million in 2014, an extremely high figure, making it advantageous to both sides to work something out. This contract renegotiation was fair for both sides and should show a willingness to compromise in the future.

Beason had signed a $50 million dollar contract extension in 2011 with $20 million in full guarantees. He has only played in 5 games since signing his contract, rupturing his Achilles in 2011 and suffering through knee and shoulder problems last season. If healthy, Beason took a paycut of $2 million for the season. If not healthy the paycut could be as much as $3.75 million. The Panthers now have around $12.8 million in salary cap space, money that they will most likely earmark for carryover to 2014 to offset some of the larger cap charges next season. Carolina is projected to be right around the 2014 cap limit without the carryover.

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