Over the Cap shows him with 1.25 dead money if cut in 2019. I'm guessing that's based on the 2.5 million dollar signing bonus and 'assuming' we split that into two years. Whereas if we actually paid him the full 2.5 in 2018 we would not owe him anything. I'm assuming that's where 'sometimes' over the cap is not the authority since they have to 'assume' sometimes.
This is where I always get confused because the league rules and transparency in cap numbers can get confusing.
For Example if towards the end of the year Jerry looked at the (2018) cap space and determined we have the money could he pay him that other 1.25 million in bonus (guarantee) we would then be able to release in 2019 with no dead money. Could we even do that or are there rules when we can pay out the bonus on a yearly basis?
you had it right the first time
he was paid a 2.5m signing bonus in 2018.......1.25m counts in 2018 and 1.25m counts in 2019 even though he was paid the full amount in 2018.... it is just an accounting trick that saves Cap Space in 2018 and pushes it to 2019
That is what Dead Money is.... it the bill for money that was already paid but not yet accounted for on the cap...... it is a smart way to handle the cap since the cap goes up every year..... the more you push into the future when the cap is higher the better..... Dead Money is not a bad thing
Dead Money is an interest free loan of cap space...... If I can clear 50m in cap space in 2019 by pushing it into the next 4 years at 10m a pop I will still be paying 10m in 2023 but the cap will be 40-60m higher by then...... the 40m in space today is way more valuable since the cap is lower
