FINALLY! - A National Columnist Gets it Right

Peter King:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/peter_king/04/17/mmqb.0417/index.html


2. Now we know how the Redskins play Houdini with the cap every year.
I hear it every winter -- from editors, readers, people in line at Starbucks. (True story: I got asked at an Orlando Starbucks during the league meetings how the Redskins were able to sign 10 guys to gigantic contracts every year.) The answer: They don't. It's 70 percent funny money. Take the case of linebacker Andre Carter, signed to a reported seven-year, $32.5 million contract on March 15. It's more accurately a one-year, $5.85 million deal, or a two-year, $10.18 million contract, or a three-year, $13.5 million deal. See, the Redskins sign players to long deals, but the contracts are back-loaded, meaning they would get most of the money in the final years of the contracts, if they get the money at all. And if Carter turns out to be the defensive force the Redskins hope he'll be, they'll almost certainly just let him play the first two years, then re-do the deal before the fat money kicks in. Specifically, in Carter's case, he has two major slices of money he may never see: $13.4 million, combined, in five separate roster bonuses to be earned if he's on the roster in 2008, '09, '10, '11, and '12; and salaries totaling $8.9 million between 2008 and 2012. Collectively, that's $22.3 million of a $32 million he may never see. Now the other question you have is this: Well, won't the Redskins get killed on the salary cap if they release Carter, say, after two years? The answer is not really, because the only part of his contract that's guaranteed is the signing bonus, which is $5 million.


He stops short of saying it's a smart cap strategy, but from this little excerpt hopefully he spreads a little understanding to all those ignoramuses who love to bash the 'Skins' cap management.

and its peter king of all people.

Shocking.

I'm in shock right now

I just signed on to post this same excerpt...I guess I was late doing it because I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. My exact thought as I read it was "Finally! Some sanity!"

But as I heard once, the Redskins are probably sitting there laughing at the media making such a fuss about our contracts. It is absolutely in their interest for the players, agents and free-agents-to-be out there to think that we are giving away absurd contracts. Then we can just sit there knowing that we have well-protected interests and top-notch players. Go Skins!

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.

Now the other question you have is this: Well, won't the Redskins get killed on the salary cap if they release Carter, say, after two years? The answer is not really, because the only part of his contract that's guaranteed is the signing bonus, which is $5 million.

For all the cap hell theorists, this is exactly how the Redskins are able to avoid cap hell year after year.

Finally some sanity, from Peter King no less.

Again, I'm still in shock.

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 was thinking the same thing back when it became clear that a lot players won't see the money they are reportedly signing for. Perhaps they know, but really you here comments like "I let me agent take care of all that". So, some of them may well be ignorant to this.

I was annoyed by that kind of. PK sort of seperates himself from those that have predicted cap doom for all these years. I wanted him to acknowledge in there that he had been wrong all these years. I guess that's to much to ask.

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 think the answer to your question is Yes they do know the chances of playing out their contract is very unlikely. Its an ego thing that they got such a big contract when in fact they will never see most of that money. So what we are doing is paying them what they are worth but they get the satisfation of hearing about the big contract they received. How we manage the cap has come to lite the past few years but I myself wish everyone was still guessing. Other teams will start to use these stratgies which will make them more competitive in the free agent market.