OT: Salary cap question.

[Hailmary]

Let's say a team has 2.5 mil left on their salary cap. Could they sign a player to the vet minimum that's heavy on incentives that could potentially go beyond what they have left on their current cap? Just wondering.

 

[neosapien23]

Let's say a team has 2.5 mil left on their salary cap. Could they sign a player to the vet minimum that's heavy on incentives that could potentially go beyond what they have left on their current cap? Just wondering.

No, due to the current predicament of the CBA, you must have the cap room to pay for incentives if they are reached this year. If you have a potential 4 million dollar contract, you must have 4 million dollars in cap space that same year.

 

[Hailmary]

thanks!

 

[AdamJT13]

No, due to the current predicament of the CBA, you must have the cap room to pay for incentives if they are reached this year. If you have a potential 4 million dollar contract, you must have 4 million dollars in cap space that same year.

But you don't need the cap space UNTIL the incentive is earned, if it is deemed "not likely to be earned."

 

[Hailmary]

But you don't need the cap space UNTIL the incentive is earned, if it is deemed "not likely to be earned."

Interesting.

So, hypothetically speaking, if a team has 2.5 mil in cap space and signed someone to the vet minimum loaded w/ incentive and that player matches these incentives and exceeds the team's current cap space, does that carry over to the next season?

If so, why isn't this commonplace in the current NFL?

Is there a penalty?

 

[Ashwynn]

Let's say a team has 2.5 mil left on their salary cap. Could they sign a player to the vet minimum that's heavy on incentives that could potentially go beyond what they have left on their current cap? Just wondering.

But thats only next year, considering it will be uncapped per the CBA. Right?

 

[onetrickpony]

Interesting.

So, hypothetically speaking, if a team has 2.5 mil in cap space and signed someone to the vet minimum loaded w/ incentive and that player matches these incentives and exceeds the team's current cap space, does that carry over to the next season?

If so, why isn't this commonplace in the current NFL?

Is there a penalty?

It has to do with the catagories "likely to be earned" and "not likely to be earned" if I understand it correctly.

An incentive is deemed "likely to be earned" if the player reached that goal last season. For example, if a QB has a $1Mil bonus for throwing 25 TDs and he threw 26 TDs last season, then the incentive is "likely to be earned" and the team must have enough money under their current cap to cover the incentive. If the QB only threw 15 TDs last year, then the incentive is "not likely to be earned" and the team would not have to have the money under the current year cap.

San Francisco played this for all it was worth in the 90's. They gave several players big incentives for winning the Super Bowl. Since they had not won the SB the last season, the incentives were "not likely to be earned." But when they won that year, it pushed them over the cap. I can't remember the outcome, but I believe that they did not have to roll that money into the next year. They were allowed to exceed the cap.