Front loading of Dez Bryant's Contract

[Galian Beast]

A lot of people think that Bryant and Thomas got the same contract, and they're actually quite different. The only thing that was the same was the total and number of years.

Thomas' contact however is a lot more evenly balanced, with only the last year looking like an option year. I say this because despite only the first three years of either of their contracts being guaranteed, Thomas' contact is much much cheaper in that 4th year. There is a 4 million dollar difference between the players that year.

It was also interesting why they didn't spread the contract out more, and why the third year Dez has a cap hit of 17 million, which can't really be restructured easily unless they extend him, but they reduced his current year cap hit to 7 million, which is a reduction of about 6 million off of what he was on the books for before.

I wonder if they're going to get aggressive with re-signing players like Crawford this year. They now have about 18 million dollars in cap space before even addressing Brandon Carr.

Cap space is more valuable going forward, but I wonder what they're going to do with this money. I think they've put themselves in a healthy enough position to where if they wanted to get Hardy long term, they could do it.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

4m dollars 4 years from now is not a big difference when considering the two contracts.

As I tried to explain to @bkight13 not having void able years is huge for Dez. If they want to use his base salary as an atm over the next few years it really forces the team to come back to the negotiating table and extend Dez. Which will lead to more years and more guarantees that will truly carry him into a "lifetime" like contract.

 

[Galian Beast]

4m dollars 4 years from now is not a big difference when considering the two contracts.

As I tried to explain to @bkight13 not having void able years is huge for Dez. If they want to use his base salary as an atm over the next few years it really forces the team to come back to the negotiating table and extend Dez. Which will lead to more years and more guarantees that will truly carry him into a "lifetime" like contract.

His last two years are pretty "voidable".

It's very strange that they didn't balance this contract out more, and get a lot of it out of the way this year as they had plenty of cap space to do it.

 

[Toruk_Makto]

His last two years are pretty "voidable".

It's very strange that they didn't balance this contract out more, and get a lot of it out of the way this year as they had plenty of cap space to do it.

The reason you add voidable years at the tail end of a contract is so that you can restructure and spread the hit across additional (and preferably the max of 5) years.

With no voidable years after Dez's 5 restructuring is less if an advantage. I think Dez's camp will want to restructure as much as the Cowboys need them to to force them back to the negotiating table sooner rather than later.

It is why Dez's 5 year 70m dollar deal is much better for him than @bkight13's 7/98m contract that he 'predicted' and claims is essentially the same.

 

[JohnsKey19]

Point taken on the difference in structure of contracts.

I believe Dallas is just as likely to let Dez play out the final year of the contract. Romo will be off the books and there likely will be a young QB at a much lower cap number. With the increase in salary cap and Dallas doing a much better job managing the books, the team very likely won't be under any constraints financially.

Who knows. ...maybe Dez's camp asked for this type of deal. Guranteed money paid early with a high cap number in the last year. Gives him a chance to get another FA deal at the age of 30 if Dallas for whatever reason chose to cut him before the 5th year...

 

[Temo]

I feel like I have to keep explaining this: All unused cap space can be rolled over. Given equal pay, it always pays to delay payments. Why pay Dez more money this year than you absolutely have to? If you delay the payment, you get to keep the short term cap flexibility in case you need it for some move, and if you don't you just roll that space over and use it against his payments in later years.

Note that with all the cap space they have, Tyron Smith's restructuring was largely unnecessary. That reduced his cap hit this year, and increased it in future years. They'll likely just roll that unused cap room over to offset some of the delayed cap hits they've accrued with him and Romo.

 

[Bluefin]

The team can always add voidable years to Dez Bryant's contract at any point in the future, if desired.

It shouldn't be necessary next year, Dallas looks to be in great cap shape, but Bryant's base salary ($9M) is already fully guaranteed according to reports. Adding a voidable year in 2020 would allow the Cowboys to lower Dez's 2016 cap number from $13M to $6.6M, creating $6.4M in cap room.

It would add $1.6M in signing bonus proration to all future years of the deal.

in 2017, Bryant's $18.6M cap number (if restructured in 2016) could be lowered to $9M, creating $9.6M in cap room while adding $2.4M in bonus proration to all future years of the deal.

Under this scenario, Dez's cap numbers would look like this.

2015: $7M cap hit
2016: $6.6M cap hit
2017: $9M cap hit
2018: $20.5M cap hit
2019: $20.5M cap hit
2020: Free agent ($6.4M in dead money)

 

[Galian Beast]

I feel like I have to keep explaining this: All unused cap space can be rolled over. Given equal pay, it always pays to delay payments. Why pay Dez more money this year than you absolutely have to? If you delay the payment, you get to keep the short term cap flexibility in case you need it for some move, and if you don't you just roll that space over and use it against his payments in later years.

Note that with all the cap space they have, Tyron Smith's restructuring was largely unnecessary. That reduced his cap hit this year, and increased it in future years. They'll likely just roll that unused cap room over to offset some of the delayed cap hits they've accrued with him and Romo.

You can rollover cap space, but you also have to manage the cap and the demands on the cap as they relate to player salaries in a particular year.

 

[xwalker]

A lot of people think that Bryant and Thomas got the same contract, and they're actually quite different. The only thing that was the same was the total and number of years.

Thomas' contact however is a lot more evenly balanced, with only the last year looking like an option year. I say this because despite only the first three years of either of their contracts being guaranteed, Thomas' contact is much much cheaper in that 4th year. There is a 4 million dollar difference between the players that year.

It was also interesting why they didn't spread the contract out more, and why the third year Dez has a cap hit of 17 million, which can't really be restructured easily unless they extend him, but they reduced his current year cap hit to 7 million, which is a reduction of about 6 million off of what he was on the books for before.

I wonder if they're going to get aggressive with re-signing players like Crawford this year. They now have about 18 million dollars in cap space before even addressing Brandon Carr.

Cap space is more valuable going forward, but I wonder what they're going to do with this money. I think they've put themselves in a healthy enough position to where if they wanted to get Hardy long term, they could do it.

They need about 6M of cap space for the 12 game bonuses for Hardy that are not currently counting against the cap. They'll likely need about 2M more once the season starts all 53 players plus the PS and IR count against the cap. They also need to keep another 2M available in case Hardy somehow got to play all 16 games. I would expect them to keep some cap space availble in the event that a player becomes available such as a via a trade.

 

[Nightman]

The reason you add voidable years at the tail end of a contract is so that you can restructure and spread the hit across additional (and preferably the max of 5) years.

With no voidable years after Dez's 5 restructuring is less if an advantage. I think Dez's camp will want to restructure as much as the Cowboys need them to to force them back to the negotiating table sooner rather than later.

It is why Dez's 5 year 70m dollar deal is much better for him than @bkight13's 7/98m contract that he 'predicted' and claims is essentially the same.

You sure are stubborn. You certainly don't need to explain anything to me

Dez also has to play for 12.5m in 2018-19 with no guaranteed money

He gets 3/45m for the first 3 so he basically owes DAL 3m for 2018-19 at 14m per year

He can hold out but will have absolutely no leverage after making 45m

 

[Nightman]

Here is his deal and his deal with a restructure in 2017. They probably won't restructure 2017 without voidable years and will just eat the 17m cap hit. That leaves them with only 8m in dead money. But if they do restructure it will still save 8m off of 2017's 17m cap hit. It just doubles the dead money from 8m to 16m which really doesn't matter since they are going to play him anyways.

5/70m...... 45m guaranteed........ 20m signing bonus
*2017 base salaries will guarantee March 2016


........................base.............pro-rate............cap hit............dead
2015................3m..................4m.....................7m...............32m
2016................9m..................4m....................13m..............38m
2017...............13m*.................4m....................17m.............25m
2018...............12.5m..............4m....................16.5m............8m.
2019...............12.5m..............4m....................16.5m............4m


After a possible restructure in 2017 with 2 voidable years added(2020-21)

........................base.............pro-rate............cap hit...............dead
2015................3m..................4m.............,........7m.................32m
2016................9m..................4m.....................13m................38m
2017...............1m............. ....6.4m...................7.4m..............25m
2018...............12.5m..............6.4m..................18.9m............17.6m.
2019...............12.5m..............6.4m..................18.9m............11.2m
2020...............14m.................2.4m...................16.4m............4.8m
2021...............14m.................2.4m...................16.4m............2.4m

 

[CF74]

Facts:

Dez Bryant signed a 5 year, $70,000,000 contract with the Dallas Cowboys, including a $20,000,000 signing bonus, $45,000,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $14,000,000.

In 2015, Bryant will earn a base salary of $3,000,000 and a signing bonus of $13,000,000. Bryant has a cap hit of $7,000,000 while his dead money value is $32,000,000.


CONTRACT: 5 yr (s) / $70,000,000
SIGNING BONUS: $20,000,000
AVERAGE SALARY: $14,000,000
GUARANTEED: $45,000,000
FREE AGENT: 2020 / UFA



Year....Age....Base Salary....Signing Bonus..Workout Bonus....Cap Hit....Dead Cap

2015..Contract details by year 26..$3,000,000..$4,000,000 - $7,000,000..$32,000,000
2016..Contract details by year 27..$9,000,000..$4,000,000 - $13,000,000..$25,000,000
2017..Contract details by year 28..$13,000,000..$4,000,000 - $17,000,000..$12,000,000
2018..Contract details by year 29..$12,500,000..$4,000,000 - $16,500,000..$8,000,000
2019..Contract details by year 30..$12,500,000..$4,000,000 - $16,500,000..$4,000,000
2020...Free Agent Year...UFA


Contract Notes:

• $32M initially guaranteed (signing bonus + 2015, 2016 salaries)
• 2017 salary fully guarantees on the 5th league day of 2016
• $6.5M of signing bonus paid upfront, another $6.5M is including in his 2015 game checks.
• $7M of signing bonus deferred to 3/15/16
• $500,000 Annual base salary de-escalators for missing workouts

Sources: NFL contract specifics generally collected from the various reports, including Rotoworld, & OTC.

www.spotrac.com/nfl/dallas-cowboys/dez-bryant/

 

[Toruk_Makto]

You sure are stubborn. You certainly don't need to explain anything to me

Dez also has to play for 12.5m in 2018-19 with no guaranteed money

He gets 3/45m for the first 3 so he basically owes DAL 3m for 2018-19 at 14m per year

He can hold out but will have absolutely no leverage after making 45m

Of course he'll have leverage. If they go after his salary to create space his cap hit starts looking awfully large. That's the point. And the thing void able years negate to some extent. Which is why not having them I'd a huge concession by the team. And you can't just pretend you were spot on with your analysis. You weren't.

Are you new to this?

 

[Nightman]

4m dollars 4 years from now is not a big difference when considering the two contracts.

As I tried to explain to @bkight13 not having void able years is huge for Dez. If they want to use his base salary as an atm over the next few years it really forces the team to come back to the negotiating table and extend Dez. Which will lead to more years and more guarantees that will truly carry him into a "lifetime" like contract.

If that is the best you can come up with, you are really stretching to make some kind of point. The 2 deals are the same.

Voidable means they void automatically. DAL cannot pick them up. It harms Dez in no way.

So they can only pro-rate 2017's over 3 years instead of 5..........boo-hoo......his cap number still goes from 17m to 9m

And they still have 2 years at 12.5m

 

[Toruk_Makto]

If that is the best you can come up with, you are really stretching to make some kind of point. The 2 deals are the same.

Voidable means they void automatically. DAL cannot pick them up. It harms Dez in no way.

So they can only pro-rate 2017's over 3 years instead of 5..........boo-hoo......his cap number still goes from 17m to 9m

It allows the Cowboys to stretch any restructures over more years lessening his cap hit and in turn the team's desire to come back to the negotiating table sooner rather than later.

How do you not get this?

 

[Nightman]

It allows the Cowboys to stretch any restructures over more years lessening his cap hit and in turn the team's desire to come back to the negotiating table sooner rather than later.

How do you not get this?

Man you are reaching

His cap hit still goes from 17m to 9m in 2017.....that helps DAL a lot.....but at some point on a 14m APY deal there will be some big cap hits

Not allowing voidable years doesn't help Dez in any meaningful way....just your fantasy where you are smarter than everyone else

 

[Toruk_Makto]

Man you are reaching

His cap hit still goes from 17m to 9m in 2017.....that helps DAL a lot.....but at some point on a 14m APY deal there will be some big cap hits

Not allowing voidable years doesn't help Dez in any meaningful way....just your fantasy where you are smarter than everyone else

You can keep saying this. But it doesn't make it true.

If the voidable years (which are helpful to the team) but not hurtful to Dez. Why aren't they there?

Did Stephen forget to add them?

 

[AbeBeta]

A lot of people think that Bryant and Thomas got the same contract, and they're actually quite different. The only thing that was the same was the total and number of years.

Thomas' contact however is a lot more evenly balanced, with only the last year looking like an option year. I say this because despite only the first three years of either of their contracts being guaranteed, Thomas' contact is much much cheaper in that 4th year. There is a 4 million dollar difference between the players that year.

It was also interesting why they didn't spread the contract out more, and why the third year Dez has a cap hit of 17 million, which can't really be restructured easily unless they extend him, but they reduced his current year cap hit to 7 million, which is a reduction of about 6 million off of what he was on the books for before.

I wonder if they're going to get aggressive with re-signing players like Crawford this year. They now have about 18 million dollars in cap space before even addressing Brandon Carr.

Cap space is more valuable going forward, but I wonder what they're going to do with this money. I think they've put themselves in a healthy enough position to where if they wanted to get Hardy long term, they could do it.

Not really interesting that at present we always write big years in and restructure. This gives max flebility in use of the cap space. We always add option years when doing this.

The structure of the deal speaks to nothing aside from a continuation of an established pattern with long term deals

 

[AbeBeta]

Man you are reaching

His cap hit still goes from 17m to 9m in 2017.....that helps DAL a lot.....but at some point on a 14m APY deal there will be some big cap hits

Not allowing voidable years doesn't help Dez in any meaningful way....just your fantasy where you are smarter than everyone else

Actually the voidable years do help Dez. We add these whever we restructure (next year we'll add one when we convert salary to bonus). You don't add them until you need to because it screws your ability to use the franchise tag on the player at the end of the deal.

 

[Rogah]

You can keep saying this. But it doesn't make it true.

If the voidable years (which are helpful to the team) but not hurtful to Dez. Why aren't they there?

Did Stephen forget to add them?

A voidable year (as you define the term above) for a low amount is hurtful to Dez because it obligates him to the team for less than he would like, and less than he would get either in free agency or franchised.

A voidable year for a high amount is hurtful to the team because that forces them to either cut him or overpay him.

I'd bet voidable years were discussed in negotiations, but they probably couldn't agree on an amount.