FINALLY! - A National Columnist Gets it Right

My question is, do these players willingly know this is going to happen to them down the road, and figure that getting any money at all is better than getting no money (hard to believe), or do they have the mindset to believe that this is an incentive for them to play "up to the contract" in hopes it won't get renegiotated down the road? I think it's great cap strategy, but if I was a player, I'm not sure I'd go for this. I'd like to know exactly what is being said to the players and their agents that make them go for this type of deal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining one bit, but I just find it interesting that players and their agents don't pick up on this stuff.
Yeah the players know but they don't care. They know if they make a deal like this that either they will rework the deal to get the money if they have played well or will get released if they have only played ok. That backend money forces the skins to pay the guys who have played well and get rid of thsoe who haven't. Most players are willing to bet on themselves being able to "earn" that backend money. The skins build in the dead money from the players who don't "earn" the money on a yearly basis.

I believe the reason that the players do not mind these deals is what has been pointed out on many occasions, they recieve large signing bonuses. The guaranteed money is the key variable to every NFL contract and the skins are not afraid to give it out. An NFL player can go from all pro to afterthought on every snap of the ball and the guaranteed dollars are the only thing that they can hang their hat on. Couple that with the fact that if they produce they will be treated like rock stars by the fans.

As a follow up, they don't mind restructuring because they receive more guaranteed dollars and they get accolades for helping the team.

we still rack up deadcap every year. as long as its manageable until new tv/etc contracts come through to boost the cap, we avoid a roster meltdown. If the contract strategy is a year short though, its a death knell.
We end up getting guys for under value basically with the way they do the contracts though. That allows them to build in the dead space every year. As long as 50%+ FAs they sign end up being better than we are really paying them up front then the Skins have extra cap space that can be used for the the other FAs that didn't "earn" their money. The dead space is simply a by product of the strategy that is unavoidable but not nearly as negative as dead space would be in other cap strategies.

As a follow up, they don't mind restructuring because they receive more guaranteed dollars and they get accolades for helping the team.
Exactly. When they have played well they get this money in converted roster bounses. IE: they "earned" this money.

The players are fine with this situation. First, Snyder's signing bonuses tend to be larger than the average team's (understatement alert).

Secondly, if players don't play up to the contract, they get cut and get to sign a new deal with another team. If they earn their keep, the Skins restructure and just give them another signing bonus a few years down the road.

Players like to get a big cash payment up front, and they like having the opportunity to get another big cash payment before they pass their prime.

I believe the reason that the players do not mind these deals is what has been pointed out on many occasions, they recieve large signing bonuses. The guaranteed money is the key variable to every NFL contract and the skins are not afraid to give it out. An NFL player can go from all pro to afterthought on every snap of the ball and the guaranteed dollars are the only thing that they can hang their hat on. Couple that with the fact that if they produce they will be treated like rock stars by the fans.

As a follow up, they don't mind restructuring because they receive more guaranteed dollars and they get accolades for helping the team.

good post, I was looking for someone to mention the signing bonus/restructure strategy, which king didn't elaborate much on. As I understand it, "restructuring" actually seems to benefit the players as much if not more so than the org. It turns base salary $ into guaranteed $.
But there's a reason we can do that; Synder has the $ to pay the bonuses if need be, whereas if say Arizona were to use our strategy they wouldn't have or want to spend the $ to convert base salary to signing bonuses. I'd say the Skins strategy is a combination of creative cap structuring & big $.

My question is, do these players willingly know this is going to happen to them down the road, and figure that getting any money at all is better than getting no money (hard to believe), or do they have the mindset to believe that this is an incentive for them to play "up to the contract" in hopes it won't get renegiotated down the road? I think it's great cap strategy, but if I was a player, I'm not sure I'd go for this. I'd like to know exactly what is being said to the players and their agents that make them go for this type of deal. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining one bit, but I just find it interesting that players and their agents don't pick up on this stuff.

I know your post has been quoted a lot of times but they do in fact know about the back end money. That's the real reason Smoot left. The final numbers had Minnesota edging Washington by $500,000 making the Skins look bad to the media. I heard my man Czaban ripping the Skins over $500,000 when it was that Minnesota gave him most of his money early and Washington wasn't. The Skins know what they are doing and for the folks who come aboard there is a lot of money to be made if they stay. They are so good even Peter King had to bow down show respect. Like Joe Gibbs said, Everyone can do what we are doing, they just choose not to !


F'n HAIL !!!!

The players like the sound of the big contracts to feed their big egos. It would not surprise me if some of these players end up making less as a skins than they would have if they went else where but their deals just don't sound as good as ours in the press.

I know your post has been quoted a lot of times but they do in fact know about the back end money. That's the real reason Smoot left. The final numbers had Minnesota edging Washington by $500,000 making the Skins look bad to the media. I heard my man Czaban ripping the Skins over $500,000 when it was that Minnesota gave him most of his money early and Washington wasn't. The Skins know what they are doing and for the folks who come aboard there is a lot of money to be made if they stay. They are so good even Peter King had to bow down show respect. Like Joe Gibbs said, Everyone can do what we are doing, they just choose not to !


F'n HAIL !!!!

That is exactly who i was thinking of. Smoot left because all the money was "back ended". I was always pissed about that but really is it possible that current players on the team have seen this stuff happen will be much more less likely to agree to these deals when it comes time to become free agents? We do an amazing job reworking contracts and just tacking on years and pushing back signing bonuses and money but if we do let a player become a free agent it must be hard if they really have seen what has happened.

We all know what we do. We all said this about brunell. We knew he wouldn't see a lot of his money. He reworked his contract but if he didn't i think he would have been cut this next year.

The rest of the league should be taking notes. The way we divide signing bonuses and push back money may not make us friends but it got us a hole lot of damn good players

Think of it this way. If a player wants to get paid before he proves himself would you consider that guy a "core" player? If you have a guy that is willing to work hard and then has a chance to be well rewarded then you have a guy worth having on your team. I foolishly believe that there are some players out there that are willing to prove their value.