NFL Cap Hit in Void Years - Cowboys 16

Rockport said:
IMG-0618.png

Philthy not breaking any rules so why isn’t everyone doing this?
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Costs actual cash to owner. Basically buying super bowls
 
Meh, they are writing contracts differently, but I don't think the graph shows anything other than accounting uncertainty as far as the salary cap is concerned. They have taken a position of paying their players almost nothing in terms of base salary and throwing an option bonus onto each year that is roughly what you'd expect their base salary to be. Bonuses can be prorated over the remainder of the contract as the team sees fit, but Spotrac and OTC don't know how that's going to play out so they just assume the standard 5-year max proration period.

They obviously won't be taking that amount as cap hits in 2029 or else they wouldn't call it "cap hits in void years", they'd just cut to the chase and label it as "dead money" when the vast majority of the players contributing to that total are no longer on the roster. That's what "dead money" is, cap charges in years where a player is not on the roster. They also wouldn't even have a roster if those figures were set in stone as fixed cap charges without those players on the team.

That number is going to significantly change once the NFL season starts, all their options bonuses are exercised, and the proration amounts are updated. Jalen Hurts has deadlines of:
  • 2025 Option Bonus: $41.33M (must be exercised by Week 1 2025)
  • 2026 Option Bonus: $50.285M (must be exercised by Week 1 2026)
  • 2027 Option Bonus: $50.155M (must be exercised by Week 1 2027)
  • 2028 Option Bonus: $50.1M (must be exercised by Week 1 2028)
With $31.5M in cap space, the void amounts per year and current year cap space will go down as their current salary cap total increases, and they won't have made any moves at all. Just finalizing numbers that are currently TBD.
 
JBS said:
It does and I’ve expressed the importance of being cash rich in here many times. But the people in here think the cap is the cap and there is no difference. Great example of how the biggest franchise in the world doesn’t use the most important asset it has (cash) to its advantage.
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I’ve been saying for years and years the cap doesn’t matter,. Yes it’s important but you get around it.
 
ncelkins1 said:
The cap will grow every year. So it looks scary now but won’t be as bad each and every year. Philly maximizes value now and isn’t afraid to cut guys loose if they don’t play well. Dallas could easily do the same. But our FO is trash.
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This is our biggest problem.

We never know when to move on from a player. We double down on our mistakes and make things worse.
 
Rockport said:
IMG-0618.png

Philthy not breaking any rules so why isn’t everyone doing this?
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You wouldn’t want to win a few Super Bowls? I certainly would have loved the Cowboys to do this during the McCarthy and Quinn years. We might have won a Superbowl in 2022 and 2023. I would have been able to stomach trading CeeDee and Parsons then letting Dak play out his contract.
 
JBS said:
It does and I’ve expressed the importance of being cash rich in here many times. But the people in here think the cap is the cap and there is no difference. Great example of how the biggest franchise in the world doesn’t use the most important asset it has (cash) to its advantage.
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Some people want to pay off their house early, some like interest only loans. Some buy a new car and pay it off early, then drive it payment free for another 5 years. Some like to lease and get a new car every year and budget for always having x amount as a car payment.

Personally I'm the former, not the latter, but to each their own. I retired early, some love their job and want to work almost forever.

Some owners front load contracts, some backload. The Cowboys backload.
 
JBS said:
It does and I’ve expressed the importance of being cash rich in here many times. But the people in here think the cap is the cap and there is no difference. Great example of how the biggest franchise in the world doesn’t use the most important asset it has (cash) to its advantage.
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A bird can tell you why this happened..............
 
thunderpimp91 said:
Because it takes a ton of up front cash
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I don't see this. Please explain.

The way Philly has done it they have spread out option bonuses over the course of the contract which are prorated for 5 years which is why the have so much money in voidable years. Option bonuses paid in the last years of the contract are prorated beyond the end of the contract. In reality this is not much different than paying large salaries then restructuring to convert the salary into bonuses and pro-rating it. The only difference is the Eagles are pro-rating bonuses into voidable years. Other teams take the CAP hit during the contract term. Although this seems to be changing.

Look at Hurts's deal. His salary peaks at $1.4 million. But he is paid option bonuses every year till the end of his deal. The last 3 years of his contract he is due $150 million in bonuses. His signing bonus was less than $24 million. Dak's was $80 million.

The up front money is really no different than any other contracts where a signing bonus is paid.

Philly's use of voidable year is their choice. The downside is lots of dead money when players retire or are waived. Until recently, I think most teams wanted to avoid dead money but the Eagles chose to build an all-star roster, win a SB or 2 then take the down years. Keep in mind they won a SB in 2017-2018, then rebuilt their roster to win again in 2024-2025 after going 4-11-1 in 2020.

Is it worth it? Would you take 2 SB wins in 7 years over what Dallas is doing?
 
It's just kicking the can down the road. There is no loophole and no magic. The cap is math and every penny will hit the cap eventually. You just pick the year you want it to hit in. Teams that are not in a position to win a SB would be absolute morons to sacrifice future cap space for current cap space. Teams that are in a position to win a SB would be morons not to.
 
DogFace said:
Can you explain why? I missed the other thread where this was discussed. Yea, if heard it discussed before and I really don’t get exactly why having cash up front helps with being able to push money to the future.
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Basically ypu pay a bunch upfront but apply it to the cap over several years including voidable years which leaves cap hits after player is gone for 2-3 or more years. It’s just an accounting trick to get around the cap
 
Jarntt said:
It's just kicking the can down the road. There is no loophole and no magic. The cap is math and every penny will hit the cap eventually. You just pick the year you want it to hit in. Teams that are not in a position to win a SB would be absolute morons to sacrifice future cap space for current cap space. Teams that are in a position to win a SB would be morons not to.
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The biggest issue to me is it gives some teams an advantage over others. The cap was meant to create a level playing field. But some teams could pay all the upfront cash others can. Most teams are owned by the very rich but now all and not all rich people are cash rich. It also drives the escalation in salaries. If I owned a team I’d do it but for the overal league and the game they need to slowly rain it in. You couldn’t just all st once but limit those voidable years to maybe just 1 or 2. Put an amount of overal money into first half of contract. That could slow it down. But teams and agents will always look for loopholes holes and you can’t blame them. But sometimes you have to put the league above the team
 
Creeper said:
I don't see this. Please explain.

The way Philly has done it they have spread out option bonuses over the course of the contract which are prorated for 5 years which is why the have so much money in voidable years. Option bonuses paid in the last years of the contract are prorated beyond the end of the contract. In reality this is not much different than paying large salaries then restructuring to convert the salary into bonuses and pro-rating it. The only difference is the Eagles are pro-rating bonuses into voidable years. Other teams take the CAP hit during the contract term. Although this seems to be changing.

Look at Hurts's deal. His salary peaks at $1.4 million. But he is paid option bonuses every year till the end of his deal. The last 3 years of his contract he is due $150 million in bonuses. His signing bonus was less than $24 million. Dak's was $80 million.

The up front money is really no different than any other contracts where a signing bonus is paid.

Philly's use of voidable year is their choice. The downside is lots of dead money when players retire or are waived. Until recently, I think most teams wanted to avoid dead money but the Eagles chose to build an all-star roster, win a SB or 2 then take the down years. Keep in mind they won a SB in 2017-2018, then rebuilt their roster to win again in 2024-2025 after going 4-11-1 in 2020.

Is it worth it? Would you take 2 SB wins in 7 years over what Dallas is doing?
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I think you're overcomplicating it a bit. The more cap hits you push into future years the more cap space you have now. The advantage of more cap space now means you can shop for more players now. That means more cash to be spent on the front end.

The actual contract structure from bonus vs salary money doesn't mean a whole lot in terms of what the team is going to have to pay up front. The team almost always pays the bulk of these contracts up front as they have to put all the guaranteed money into a separate escrow account. The only time the team is paying anything more is once a player gets past their guaranteed money period (which typically means either renegotiations or player gets cut) or if they hit a guaranteed escalator in their contract. The signing bonus money in a players contract is really just a matter of when the money gets distributed to the player, Teams have already paid that signing bonus + more to the escrow account.
 
DCreppinBoysfan said:
How do you know that for sure. The lakers are the most valuable franchise in the nba. The lakers owners(The Buss’),compared to other owners around the nba are some of the poorest
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I expect that Jerry is rich on paper. None of that translates to actual dollars
 
DCreppinBoysfan said:
How do you know that for sure. The lakers are the most valuable franchise in the nba. The lakers owners(The Buss’),compared to other owners around the nba are some of the poorest
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Yeah people confuse wealth and cash. Jerry has a ton of wealth, largely from owning the Dallas Cowboys. Take away the team valuations form their net worths and Jerry is one of the poorer owners in the league. The other money he has is going to be tied up in assets, not available funds to spend at the drop of a hat.
 
Jarv said:
Some people want to pay off their house early, some like interest only loans. Some buy a new car and pay it off early, then drive it payment free for another 5 years. Some like to lease and get a new car every year and budget for always having x amount as a car payment.

Personally I'm the former, not the latter, but to each their own. I retired early, some love their job and want to work almost forever.

Some owners front load contracts, some backload. The Cowboys backload.
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All of this is true and it’s a fair way to look at it. But from a pure footballing perspective , the cowboys aren’t using their biggest asset as a resource to win games. Period.
 
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