[BigHairedAristocrat]

Originally Posted by Slingin Sammy 33

Remember the big contracts and signing bonuses those guys completed, I think one or both may have also extended or pushed a bonus up front to free up cap space. The cap hits on both are WAAAAYYYY to high to release them before the end of 2011. Not sure what you're referring to here.

Check out the drop down tabs at the top of the page, go to "Team Info" then to "Salary Cap Info". This is a cap sheet with detailed contract info and release fees. Invaluable info here for any discussion of trades, contracts, etc. (thanks again CC).

I trust CC knows 1000 times more about this than I do, but looking at the contracts, which JLC provided, i think CC is calculating their release fees under the assumption the skins choose to pay Carter and ARE their option bonuses prior to the 2010 season.

If we don't pay the option bonus, the release fees would be significantly smaller - read below:

Redskins Insider - The Full Carter And Randle El Contracts

The Full Carter And Randle El Contracts

Let's start with Carter.

As part of his new contract, he received a $3 million signing bonus, and his deal now extends through 2015 (in principle at least, more on that in a moment). And he has a $7.25 million option bonus in 2010, which the club has until Aug. 31, 2010 to decide whether or not to pick up. If that option bonus is executed, then Carter's deal extends through 2015, with that $7.25 million then prorated over the ensuing six seasons.

If Carter's option bonus is picked up, his 2010 base salary is $1.3 million. If that option is not executed, then Carter's 2010 base salary jumps to $1.95 million, and he becomes eligible for unrestricted free agency following the 2010 season (barring yet another renegotiation/new contract; these two guys have don't 3 deals each with the Skins in 4 years here)

Should the Redskins opt to cut Carter after the 2009 season, prior to executing the option bonus, then Carter would count about $5.1 million in dead cap space (Now, there's a chance we don't get a new CBA in the next year, in which case 2010 is uncapped, so cap hits wouldn't matter. I'm starting to think more and more that common sense prevails here and labor peace wins, but who knows).

The Randle El contract is virtually identical in theory.

As part of his new deal he got a $2.5 million signing bonus, and his deal now has the potential to extend years beyond his old one, through 2015 at max. And he has a $6.25 million option bonus in 2010, which the club has until Aug. 31, 2010 to decide whether or not to pick up. If that option bonus is executed, then Randle El's deal can go through 2015, with that $6.25 million prorated over the ensuing six seasons (feel like you are reading the same paragraph over and over?).

If Randle El's option bonus is executed, his 2010 base salary is $1.375 million. If that option is not executed, then Randle El's 2010 base salary jumps to $1.95 million and he is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent following the 2010 season. Should the Redskins opt to cut Randle El after the 2009 season, prior to executing the option bonus, then Randle El would count $4.4 million in dead cap space.

So there you have it. Nothing too earth shattering; typical Skins business. They were going to face decisions on these guys following the 2009 season already, under their previous deals, and will end up doing so again, only with the players now having the chance to get another $13.5 million in total guaranteed between them at a later stage of their career should those options get picked up.

Neither has been very productive since signing lucrative free agent deals here in March of 2006, and both play positions that have been woefully unproductive here on the whole. From the player standpoint, there's every incentive to do these deals, they end up getting more money up front now and the chance to earn much more. The team's only real incentive is to try to get under the cap, again, and this helps a bit. It's really just shifting some money around - salary cap gymnastics.

IMO when Carter and ARE signed these new contracts, they did so with the knowledge that they would likely be cut after the 2009 season. There's no way we're picking up AREs option. The skins will gladly take the 4.4M hit to cut ARE.