Tag: guaranteed money

Contract details for LS Andrew DePaola have been revealed

DePaola’s new contract has guaranteed money that should provide stability to the #Vikings at one of the NFL’s most specialized positions

The Minnesota Vikings gave their All-Pro long snapper Andrew DePaola one of the most lucrative contracts of any player at his position on Tuesday, cementing his role as a cornerstone of their special teams unit. Details of the deal were announced on Wednesday night which show that the team-friendly deal will benefit the Vikings while also providing DePaola a substantial payday following his award-worthy 2022 campaign.

This deal includes a $350,000 signing bonus that, combined with his $15,000 workout bonus each year, will give him plenty of stability over the life of his contract. Though he is set to make the league minimum in all three years of the contract, DePaola’s salary will become fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2024 league year.

All in all, this deal should prove to be a great move that provides stability to the Vikings at one of the NFL’s most specialized positions. With the help of their accomplished long snapper, the sky is the limit for Minnesota’s special teams unit in 2023.

Digging into Derek Carr contract numbers in deal with Saints

Good rule is to never take initial contract numbers at face value. But Derek Carr’s deal with the Saints looks good for both sides.

The numbers are in on Derek Carr’s contract with the Saints. And as per usual, there’s the numbers initially reported (from the agents to through the media) and the *actual* numbers.

In this case, Carr signs a four-year, $150 million deal in New Orleans with $100 million in guarantees. But a closer look shows it’s really something closer to a two or three-year deal with $60 million fully guaranteed.

So, Carr gets between $30 million and $35 million per season over two seasons in New Orleans and then we’ll see. But safe to say, he will never see the fourth year of this contract.

Overall, this is a good deal for both Carr and the Saints.

The Saints didn’t have to trade any assets to acquire him because Carr didn’t void his no-trade clause, forcing the Raiders to cut him.

And in return, Carr gets the same money the Saints were initially reportedly offering, but with more guaranteed money overall ($60 million vs $40 million in his previous contract) and Saints — who are considerably cap strapped — get to spread out the cap hit from Carr over multiple years on the four-year deal.

Oh, and he got him another no-trade clause.

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If Derek Carr is injured in Pro Bowl Raiders could be on the hook for full 2023 salary

Raiders thought by benching Derek Carr they eliminated the risk of injury guaranteeing over $40 mil in salary. His Pro Bowl nod changes that.

Here’s a situation the Raiders undoubtedly did NOT see coming when they benched Derek Carr with two games left in the season.

So, this morning Carr was named to the Pro Bowl. The AFC had gone through seven quarterbacks before they got to Carr, but here we are.

The Raiders cut him to avoid the possibility of him getting injured and thus guaranteeing his $35 million salary for next season plus $7.5 million of his 2024 salary. Now they are faced with Carr taking the field again anyway, even if it is a flag football game. And that appears to be enough.

This puts the Raiders in a precarious position. They had hoped to have until February 15 to try and work out a trade. But now they may not be able to wait that long.

The Pro Bowl is this weekend. Could the Raiders eliminate the risk of Carr injuring himself in the Pro Bowl and cut him before then? Or do they take the chance and hope he comes through unscathed so they can still find a trade partner to avoid Carr being cut loose no compensation.

Risky proposition. We’ll soon see.

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Stefon Diggs becomes latest WR to leapfrog Davante Adams in guaranteed money

Davante Adams’s guaranteed money looks downright affordable now with Stefon Diggs’s new deal.

Hey, remember the freak out over the contract the Raiders gave Davante Adams? That was fun, right. Everyone doing what they always do and latching onto the early max numbers his agent put out on a five-year deal, before the numbers that actually mattered came out. Good times.

What we discovered soon after the fake numbers that will never actually be reached were released, is that his supposed five-year, $140 million deal was actually more like a three-year, $65 million deal.

That’s the guaranteed money on the contract. After those three years, his base salary jumps to $35 million, which is never going to happen.

Guaranteed money is always the number to focus on. And, to be fair, at the time the Raiders acquired Adams in trade with the Packers and the All-Pro WR signed the deal, it was the most guaranteed money belonging to a wide receiver in the NFL. But that changed quickly.

Less than a week later, the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to Miami, where Hills got himself a new blockbuster deal that came with $72.2 million in guarantees. And just like that, Adams was no longer the leading receiver in the guaranteed money clubhouse.

Today, Adam fell even farther down the list with the Bills handing Stefon Diggs a reported four-year, $104 million extension which includes $70 million in guaranteed money. Here’s what the guaranteed money list looks like now. Just three weeks after Adams signed his deal.

Being the highest-paid at any position never lasts long. But if you are an NFL team, it behooves you to be among the first in a given offseason to put the contract together because, as you can see, it usually leads to saving some coin. For instance, the Raiders are getting Adams for $21.8 million per season. While the two receivers to get deals since then will be making closer to $24 million per season.

Granted Adams is a couple of years older than Diggs and Hill, but do you think that would’ve stopped Adams’s agent from ensuring his client leapfrogged the other two to become the highest-paid at his position at the time of his signing? I can say with some confidence, it would not.

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Cowboys waive DT Gerald McCoy, save $3.25M in cap space

The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff and players loved everything about Gerald McCoy. Everyone was disheartened when he was injured in what seemed to be an inocuous one-on-one drill against fellow defensive lineman Antwaun Woods. But there he was, with …

The Dallas Cowboys coaching staff and players loved everything about Gerald McCoy. Everyone was disheartened when he was injured in what seemed to be an inocuous one-on-one drill against fellow defensive lineman Antwaun Woods. But there he was, with a ruptured right quad and pending surgery, his 2020 season done before it started.

This morning, McCoy tweeted out an upbeat, pre-surgery video to assure Cowboys Nation he would be back. Head coach Mike McCarthy spoke glowingly about conversations the two had about how he could help youngsters Trysten Hill and Neville Gallimore step up in 2020. Now it appears a possibility his career as a Dallas Cowboy may never happen because in a surprise move, he’s been waived from the team.

Here’s what this means. The Cowboys, knowing McCoy had a standing quad injury, protected themselves when they were negotiating and writing the three-year, $18.3 million contract. The deal had $3 million in signing bonus. The deal had a fully guaranteed $2.5 million base salary for 2020 and $1.5 million of his $5 million, 2021 salary was fully guaranteed as well. His remaining 2021 base salary, $3.5 million, was guaranteed for injury. He also had three consecutive, $750,000 game-day roster bonuses tied in.

If any other body part had been injured, McCoy would’ve seen at least $7 million in total payment, and possibly $10.5 million if the injury kept him from ever playing again. But the Cowboys had McCoy sign a waiver on his quad, and as such, they had the ability to release the player and nullify every other aspect of the contract other than the signing bonus.

The move saves the Cowboys $3.25 million in cash and cap space, but does put $2 million of dead money on next year’s cap.

That’s because of the $3 million signing bonus’ proration. McCoy’s cap hit was his base salary ($2.5 million), his roster bonuses (he played all 16 games in 2019, so all bonuses are likely-to-be-earned and count on the cap – $750,000) and one-third of his signing bonus ($3 million spread evenly across three years).

His base salary and roster bonuses are off the books, his signing bonus proration stays and the two remaining years of proration, $2 million, now sit as dead money on the 2021 books.

The club has let it be known they hope to resign McCoy next season when healthy, but that seems like kumbaya rhetoric considering how much unknown there is. The team in the same breath hope Neville Gallimore and Trysten Hill emerge enough in 2020 to replace the production they were hoping for from McCoy.

It has not been stated whether or not the Cowboys are considering hiring McCoy as a coach for the season, which would allow him to recoup some or all of the lost salary and still continue his role in the development of the young defensive tackles.

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