OT: Browns RB Trent Richardson traded to the Colts for 1st rd pick

[WCL]

https://images.nflplayers.com/mediaResources/files/2011CBA.pdf

Here is the CBA. You can go to page 93 and the link makes it clear that Signing Bonuses have to be pro rated.

https://www.nflplayers.com/articles/cba-news/2011-collective-bargaining-agreement/

In BearsFan51's first thread when we were trying to explain he was wrong about the salary cap, Bennett's contract came up. We actually ended up discussing it with the guy that runs overthecap.com. The contract with Bennett had a right to terminate that was solely at the discretion of Bennett so for salary cap purposes the contract is treated as basically a series of 1 year contracts which means the pro ration occurs over one year. If you check page 93 of the CBA, it's the section that says,

"Any contract year in which the player has the right to terminate based upon events within his sole control shall not be counted as a contract year for purposes of pro ration."

So if you recall in the below thread that is what Jason ie the guy from overthecap explained to us. So again you absolutely have to pro rate. However, if you give the player the option to terminate the contract at his own discretion then the pro ration still occurs but it occurs only up to the first voided year. So in this case the Bears gave Bennet the option to terminate his contract after the first year so the SB was pro rated all in the first year because it was like Bennett signed a one year deal. If Bennett had become an elite WR he could have voided his contract after his first year and become a FA which is precisely why the CBA basically treats the contract as a one year contract.

http://www.chicitysports.com/forum/...hits-and-contract-structure-information/page4

My first thought when I saw that clause was that it eliminates a scenario in which the player can screw up the team's cap.

In a normal scenario, the signing bonus is prorated. If that contract is terminated (or the player is traded), the remainder of the prorated bonus counts immediately against that year's cap. So if a team has four years left on a contract and eight million dollars of cap hit left from the bonus, they're counting on a $2 million/year cap hit. If they cut the player, it's an eight million cap hit that year.

If the player has the ability to terminate the contract in that scenario, he could kill the contract and immediately take up six million dollars of cap space that the team wasn't expecting. The team would probably have to cut some players to get under the cap.

If the team takes it all off the books immediately, they're controlling the cap instead of the player. I thought that was the reason behind it. I could be completely off, though.

 

[remydat]

Yeah it probably helps to manage the cap. I would say the only reason the Bears could do this with Bennett is because they gave him a slightly bigger contract than you would expect based on his production so Bennett would have had to become a star WR for him to consider terminating. You can't really do this with a big name player otherwise, they could just take the SB and then terminate and get another big money deal.