Tag: veteran salary benefit

Chiefs used four-year qualifying contract on OL Nick Allegretti to save cap space

Explaining the four-year qualifying contract used on Nick Allegretti and how it helps the #Chiefs save salary cap space.

The Kansas City Chiefs used a unique NFL contract quirk on OL Nick Allegretti to save some money against the salary cap.

The team re-signed the 27-year-old backup offensive lineman on a one-year deal worth $2.582 million fully guaranteed, but as we predicted, that won’t be the number Allegretti costs against the salary cap. The team used a type of veteran salary benefit to help lower the cost of Allegretti’s cap hit in 2023, but this one is a type that isn’t too often used because it’s only applicable to a specific group of players.

The Chiefs used the four-year qualifying contract on Allegretti, which is essentially a qualifying offer like the ones that you’d see with NFL’s restricted free agents or exclusive rights free agents. It can only be given to players who’ve been on a 90-man roster with a single team for four or more years.

This specific contract is given to NFL players with four credited NFL seasons, but it allows teams to incur a salary-cap charge for a player with just two years of accrued service time. In the case of Allegretti, that means his contract only counts $1,232,500 against the salary cap in 2023.

Teams are permitted to use the four-year qualifying contract on two eligible players each year, but I’m not certain that Kansas City will go that route after having seen this particular contract. It’s possible they used it on Derrick Nnadi as well, but we’re still awaiting those contract details. However, the team can still use other veteran salary benefits to help save a bit against the salary cap during the 2023 NFL season on other signings, if they so choose.

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Lions officially re-sign CB Will Harris with the veteran salary benefit

Lions officially re-sign CB Will Harris with the veteran salary benefit, which allows the team to pay him more than his salary cap hit

The Detroit Lions have made the reported news official. The team has re-signed cornerback Will Harris to a one-year deal.

The terms of the deal are a little complicated. Harris re-signed with the Lions using a contractual device known as the veteran salary benefit. Basically, it allows the Lions to pay Harris the fully guaranteed $2.58 million contract for one year, but only count $1,317,500 against the Lions’ salary cap.

The best explanation for the veteran salary benefit comes from Russell Street Report,

The Veteran Salary Benefit (VSB) rule was created by the 2020 CBA and replaced the old Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) Rule. These rules were put in place to allow veteran players to be signed to Cap-friendly deals instead of being replaced by cheaper, more Cap-friendly, younger players. The Veteran Salary Benefit allows veteran players to be signed to 1-year contracts with the applicable minimum salary (based on the player’s service time) and a small signing bonus ($152,500 in 2022), but only have to count that player at the salary level of a player with only 2 years of service time (plus the bonus).

In effect, Harris was able to sign for nearly double the amount that will be billed to the Lions’ salary cap accounting. Had he signed with another team, he wouldn’t have been able to get that benefit.

The Lions had two free agents who were eligible for the benefit, Harris and EDGE Austin Bryant. Because the Lions used it on Harris, Bryant is ineligible to get it. Bryant remains unsigned.

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