A breakdown of Ezekiel Elliott’s eight-year, $102.9 million deal with the Dallas Cowboys:
Signing bonus - $7.5 million
2019 base salary - $752,137
2020 base salary - $6.8 million ($13 million option bonus)
2021 base salary - $9.6 million
2022 base salary - $12.4 million
2023 base salary - $10.9 million
2024 base salary - $10 million
2025 base salary - $15.4 million
2026 base salary - $16.6 million
Note: The first two years of the deal are fully guaranteed, totaling $28 million at signing. The base salaries in 2021 and 2022 become fully guaranteed on the fifth day of the league years in 2020 and 2021.
this is a very tricky contract to comprehend.
i think the team got a better deal than i expected.
look at the 1st 2 years, he essentially gets a raise of $15 million.
it seems the agent wanted the certainty of getting the near term money.
then the next 3 years (years 3-5), his base salary is only ~11 million.
so essentially zeke is exchanging that $15 million additional salary certainty in exchange for a "discount" in his salary for years 3-5. it is a discount because the average salary is ~$11 million for years 3-5.
if his play falls of during years 3-5, then the team is basically stuck with an extra year of guaranteed salary of ~$11m before cut or renegotiation.
if his performance falls off, he would probably be at least a 2nd tier rb worth about $5-7 million. so the loss is probably about $6 million.
the team is essentially getting a team option for years 6-7 for $16 million average salary