Lots of gray area, and that is why the Cowboys structured Hardy’s one-year contract to account for just that. And here, too, are the facts of that contract.
No guaranteed money – no signing bonus or any portion of base salary.
The 2014 salary cap hit is $3.213 million, including a $745,000 base salary, a $1.31 million workout bonus that has to be earned and a $1.156 million roster bonus if he makes the 53-man roster.
While this can be a one-year, as much as a $11.3 million contract, there is $9.255 million tied up in per-game bonuses that will be paid thusly: $578,437 for every week Hardy is on the 53-man roster. Meaning, slapped with, say, a four-game suspension, Hardy would be docked $2.313 million from that $9.255 million figure. Also, the salary cap is charged weekly, so that money has to be available.
As for the $13.1 million figure: That’s the most he can make if he hits the highest performance bonus, which is $1.8 million for 14 sacks. This though, is charged to the 2016 cap, classified as an unlikely to be earned bonus since none of the bonus levels listed were achieved the previous season.
Also, no franchise-tag designation was negotiated into the deal, which seems to have angered those in favor of the Cowboys having signed Hardy. But that is the price for no guaranteed money being included in the contract and for only having offered the one-year deal. Both sides have an out, for better or for worse, Hardy only obligated to a one-year contract and the Cowboys able to cut ties with the player for whatever reason without carrying over a huge cap penalty into the following season for guaranteed money.