Quote:
Originally Posted by Hoopsdoc
(Post 345038)
Wait, so there is a 26.4 million cap hit in 2028 regardless of whether he’s still in Indy?
|
Well, yes, if DJ plays both years of his 2-year salary.
No if he only plays one year and then the Colts cut him. Then ALL of his pro-rated signing bonus will accellerate into 2027.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Puck
(Post 345063)
Ok. Cap money gurus
Can you explain void years ?
|
As AlwaysSunnyInIndy said, they are a cap tool that teams are using in order to extend the cap hit of signing bonus.
In this case, instead of chunking the $44m signing bonus into only two cap accounting buckets of $22m for 2026 and $22m for 2027, they instead added three "void" years and now split the pro-rated signing bonus into five buckets of $8.8m for 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029 and 2030.
If DJ only plays 1 year of his contract, then the rest of the pro-rated signing bonus ($35.2m) will then accellerate into 2027 as he is now off contract.
If DJ plays both years of his contract, then the rest of the pro-rated signing bonus ($26.4m) will accellerate into 2028 as he is now off contract.
If the Colts re-sign or extend DJ past 2027, then those void years chuncks of pro-rated signing bonuses will still hit in their appropriate year ALONG WITH new pro-rated signing bonus from the new contract.
It is a replacement for signing players to a 5-year contact with both sides KNOWING FULL WELL that it is really only a 2-year contact because it balloons so much that no NFL team will be willing to pay years 3-5.
The player's union sought it as a tool because they wanted to differenate between "real" big contracts (5-year, $250m for QBs) and fake $250m contracts that everyone knew would never get paid out just to move more cap hit from the signing bonus into the future.
And, yes, the Eagles have been using void years for a good decade now in order to keep pushing the cap hits forward into a future where the salary cap keeps growing. Some think that it is the new way to manage caps and if you are good enough at it, then the bills "never" become due.
While I think it a good tool to use here or there, adding void years to almost every veteran contact you sign, IMO, is not the best plan.