Another former Carolina Panthers first-round pick is now being paid by the Buffalo Bills in defensive tackle Vernon Butler.
But the 25-year-old’s career has been interesting to this point. Mainly he’s getting paid based on his 2019 season since he was basically a dud before then, not even really getting starts as a first-round prospect. He had six sacks and three forced fumbles.
Because of that, the Bills’ deal for has some twists in it via incentives and the way it’s managed. Butler reportedly landed a two-year, $15 million deal after the Panthers did not pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal.
Butler did get a decent chunk of guarantees in his deal, $9.3 million in total, according to the Houston Chronicle. That comes via a $2 million signing bonus, a 2020 roster bonus of $3 million on the fifth day of the league year most likely, and $2.8 million of guaranteed salary in 2020.
In addition, he has a $1.5 million injury guarantee in 2021. That brings his deal to a front-loaded one with $7.8 million of his guarantees coming in 2020.
In the second year of his deal, the Bills have a big time deal on their hands in their favor. His salary jumps to $5.5 million, but the dead cap hit drops from $7.8 million to $1 million.
There’s also a $1.5 million salary escalator on his contract, which could case his base salaries to go up, plus there are another $750K worth of incentives in his contract. Those are based on sacks. Butler’s deal reads much like a one-year “prove-it” contract, with a team option of sorts on Year 2.
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