Falcons: Jason La Canfora On Brent Grimes

[Beef]

(02-20-2012 08:21 PM)dmo_dlo Wrote:  I don't think that's the way it works Beef.

NFL will not allow cap money to be transferred as part of a trade or in any other way. Once you pay a player any money, it has to come off your cap, and only your cap. You can't transfer or trade that. The only option you have in the case of upfront (so called bonus) money is to spread it over all or some years of the contract. But once the player is not with you anymore, for whatever reason (trade or release), the money that was spread becomes an instant, accelerated cap hit. These are NFL rules (different than NBA for example). If dead money was transferrable then it would become a trading commodity by itself but it's not in NFL. At least that's my understanding.

Well that's just not true.

Why do you think we were waiting to see what would happen with Mike Vick's Philly contract to see if we would get cap relief? Because up front money we paid him he didn't actually earn. He still owes the Falcons around $17M. We're listed as a creditor on his bankruptcy. And whenever he actually pays Blank some money back, we will get corresponding relief to our cap numbers.

It's not "dead money". Again, guaranteed money does not equal bonus money. You still have to EARN your guaranteed money.

Why do you think Ricky Williams had to pay so much money back when he quit? It was "guaranteed money" and was paid to him up front and then pro-rated over the life of his contract. But when he quit, he had to pay back the pro-rated amount for the years he didn't play and that money was washed from the cap numbers.

Think about it. If we gave Spoon a $30M 6 year contract with $15M guaranteed, what would prevent him from quiting the Falcons after 1 year and just walking away with his $15M? And then after the 2nd year, he decides to sign with another team who also gives him a $30M 6 year contract with $15M up front guaranteed. Then he decides after 1 year to quit again.

Now he's played 2 years and gets to just keep $30M dollars???? And the 2 teams have to take $2.5M/year cap hits for the whole 6 years? BOTH of them?

NO NO NO. That's not how this works. The ONLY way you get to keep guaranteed money is if the team releases you or you are forced out because of a football related injury. If you quit or get traded, the team does not have to pay you for something you did not earn. It's that simple.