Samuels In-depth

I've been trying to figure out what the Skins will do with Samuels, so I decided to do some analysis.

Here's Samuels' current situation:

................2005...2006
Salary..........$6M....$7.7M
Bonus...........$690K..$690K
Signing Bonus...$2.9M..$2.9M

Total Cap Hit...$9.6M..$11.3M

Scenario A - Samuels voids 2006:

................2005
Salary..........$6M
Bonus...........$690K
Signing Bonus...$5.8M

Total Cap Hit...$12.5M

As we can see, Samuels has a lot of leverage. He can really screw the Skins in 2005 by voiding his final year. If he doesn't void 2006 or restructure, he stands to pocket $15.1M (salary + bonus) over the next 2 years under his current contract. Of course if the Skins dump him he sees nothing. IMO a 6th-year-Samuels-caliber OL is not worth $7.5M/year on the open market, but it's probably not far off. So if the Skins did dump him he'd probably lose some $, but not much.

While I don't think Samuels has much financial incentive to restructure, let's assume he really likes Gibbs and wants to stay a Skin. What would the restructured deal look like?

For starters we'll have to give him that $15M he was due to make right away or very soon. Let's say we give him a $12M signing bonus, plus $2M roster bonuses in 2007 and 2008, for a total of $16M short-term bonus money (STBM).

To compare:
Champ $23M STBM (in Denver deal)
Lavar $20M STBM (in his new deal)
Portis $17M STBM
Coles $15.5M STBM
Springs $13.3M STBM
Taylor $11.3M STBM
Griffin $10.8M STBM
Washington $9.5M STBM
Brunell $9.1M STBM
Jansen $7.4M STBM
Thomas $7M STBM

In exchange, Samuels takes the league minimum salary over the next 2 years, and then his salary gradually increases throughout the term of a 7-year contract. So what does the final deal look like in terms of the cap?

Scenario B - Samuels restructures (extends)

................2005...2006...2007...2008...2009.. .2010...2011
Salary..........$535K..$535K..$2M....$3.5M..$5M... .$6M....$7M
Bonus...........$0.....$0.....$2M....$2M....$0.... .$0.....$0
Signing Bonus...$2M....$2M....$2M....$2M....$2M....$2M.... $0
Dead Cap.........$5.8M...$0...$0...$0...$0...$0...$0

Total Cap Hit...$8.3M..$2.5M....$6M....$7.5M....$7M....$8M.. ..$7M

Notice how the restructure helps everyone. Samuels gets his money, including a big chunk right away. In exchange, the Skins get some much needed cap relief especially in 2006.

The headline would read "Samuels signs 7-year, $40.5M extension with Skins".

Of course this is all speculation, and we all have our own opinions about Samuels' worth. The extension shown above is just an example, so don't get all crazy about the numbers. I just thought it's interesting to look at it from everyone's point of view.

I hope Samuels restructures. If not, my guess is they trade him this offseason and eat the entire $5.8M deadcap in 2005. It'll still be a $3.8M net savings on the 2005 cap.

Note - I've edited this a few times to fix mistakes.

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST!

Very nice post Canuck. Way to back up your opinion. I think these next several weeks with him protecting Ramsey's blindside will be instrumental in determining Samuels' worth

Excellent post Canuck. You've earned your stripes as our capologist and then some.

Great post. I'm sure they want to keep him, but the squeeze will be on soon, especailly in 2006. Now what do we do about Brunell? And is Gardner out of here or what?

Oops. Just saw your other great post on the cap thread. Man, Canuck, you dig that cap madness! Keep it up!!!

According to ESPN.com, the Redskins are $4.8 million under the salary cap. Can we use that space to say, re-sign Samuels late in the season and give him a $4 million roster bonus against this years cap in order to reduce his signing bonus by $4 million (part of which would count against the 2005 cap)? I think we did something like this with Bruce Smith last season and I know the Vikings do something like this each year.

According to ESPN.com, the Redskins are $4.8 million under the salary cap. Can we use that space to say, re-sign Samuels late in the season and give him a $4 million roster bonus against this years cap in order to reduce his signing bonus by $4 million.

I calculate we're about $1M under the 2004 cap, but I'm sure ESPN knows more than me. I count the IR guys in my cap calculation, maybe that's the discrepency. I'll have to look into it.

As for your idea, it's a good one, and I think you're right. We can stick some of the money of a new Samuels (or Smoot) deal under the 2004 cap. :thumb:

I know the deadline to extend contracts has passed. Not that they can't sign an extension but that anything they sign goes toward the cap in the future. Not sure about rolling a bonus in for this year though. Seems like a significant loop hole though.

I am somewhat confused on your analysis Canuck.

Samuels has already received the signing bonus. So no matter what we do that 5.8 goes somewhere on the cap. But if an extension is signed doesn't it get prorated just like any new signing bonus would? Meaning that if he signs a 7 year restructure then the original 5.8 goes over the 7 years...not just on first year of a new deal.

Great post Canuck,

I think the salary cap is a pretty interesting topic and you obviously know your stuff.

Nice post Canuck. I wouldn't have had the patience to research all that and I'm only familiar with the financial end of football from what I read in the papers. I do have a couple of questions regarding the extension scenario though. My first question is would the Washington FO go for an extension that long with a lineman? What's the average length of a lineman's career? And what would happen if the extension was agreed upon and Samuel's has a career ending injury in say, 2008? (Now you really know how ignorant I am!)