You just don't get it. I'm taking cap hits and contact structure. You're way of thinking is to give players a low cap hit and just kick the can further down the road. This results in greater cap issues in future years.
Not sure how I can make it any more simple for you.
No one does it your way
No one prepays athletes....you can't recover the money on retirements or suspensions and it takes away the incentive to work harder
Paying more on the cap when it is lower is moronic and no one does it.......almost 95% of contracts have large Signing Bonuses that are pro-rated
Players don't like having tiny contracts late in the deal with no guarantees......they would rather be cut and set free.... their egos and agents always get involved
You take away all flexiiblty by overpaying early..... you handicap yourself against trades and injuries ....it is 100x better to have the cap space and not need it than to need it and not have it
Rollover kills your argument dead.......if you don't spend it then you add it next year's total...... no worries
You are trying to solve a problem that doesn't exist......extending ZMartin will create 3-4m in Cap Space that can be used to get an EThomas or just for insurance that will be rolled over
My way has cap hits of 6m, 8m and 18m
Yours has hits of 18m, 16m and 16m
If you spend 1/2 the 12m you save this year and roll over the other 6m then you have a net hit of 2m next year compared to 16m your way
Then you spend 1/2 and rollover the other 7m and year 3 I have a 11m cap hit and you still have a 16m cap hit.
If I cut the player year 4 then his saved salary more than makes up for any DeadMoney......it is huge net gain and the cap went up by 40m anyways.......Winner Winner