I'm not sure how this works. If you trade a player that has a bonus for draft picks will part or all of the bonus count as a "penalty" for next year?

I got a rookie free agent QB that will be very good signed to a 1 year contract. He projects to be a low 90's player but not quite as good as my starter who is really good and locked in at a great salary. The rookie wants to resign for about $6 mil/yr to be a backup. With a $14 mil bonus over 6 years.

Should I sign and trade him (I'm in the playoffs now so I still have the offseason to deal)? Or would a cap penalty make me regret the move and I should just let him walk?

I think I have my own answer. I looked around the web for nfl salary cap rules and it appears that trading a player is really not much different then cutting him.

All I would be doing is moving his base salary off my cap and I'd take the entire bonus as a cap hit for next year. Not good. So it appears that just letting him walk is the best solution. It costs me nothing. For those wondering who this diamond in the rough is it is Jacob Green, QB, Boston College.

Listen to Schefter and he may mention how he attended the BC pro day and came away thinking the backup (Green) had the stronger arm then the starter everyone was there to see. I made a note of that and picked up Green for 290 k, he went from a 68 to 83 fast and has a potential of 93. Hate to lose him but I can't afford to keep him.

Unless I pull the Patriots move and franchise him and trade him for whatever. But only I know he can be a "93" the rest of the league only sees "83". For that high salary no one may bite.

Yep, that's pretty much it. That's why when you sign players, don't give them big bonuses unless you plan to keep them for the length of the contract. While the bonuses will offset the overall hit on the cap, they really handcuff you if said player becomes a bust or you need to get rid of him/trade him.

 

 

 fantavet wrote:

I'm not sure how this works. If you trade a player that has a bonus for draft picks will part or all of the bonus count as a "penalty" for next year?

I got a rookie free agent QB that will be very good signed to a 1 year contract. He projects to be a low 90's player but not quite as good as my starter who is really good and locked in at a great salary. The rookie wants to resign for about $6 mil/yr to be a backup. With a $14 mil bonus over 6 years.

Should I sign and trade him (I'm in the playoffs now so I still have the offseason to deal)? Or would a cap penalty make me regret the move and I should just let him walk?

since he's a rookie would you be able to either tag him or RFA? if his RFA you would get  Draft pick if another team signs him!