I’m trying to understand nfl contracts. You read about players restructuring contracts to clear up cap space. Doesn’t a signing bonus count as cap space.
Edit. Thanks everyone for your answers, I get it now
In: 10
Base salary changes over the life of the contract usually, with peaks in the middle or end of the contract. Turning this year’s salary into a signing bonus lowers the cap hit on the salary for this year, and spreads it out evenly over the next 5 years or years left in the contract (if under 5). It’s kind of like making installation payments over time.
Let’s say player’s cap hit is $10 million in salary this year, and they have 5 years left on the contract. The current cap hit this year is $10 million. They convert 5 million into signing bonus. The cap hit this year is now $5 million of the original salary plus $1 million for the signing bonus, lowering the total cap hit to $6 mil from 10. Next year’s cap hit will have an extra $1 million as well, and each year until the end of the contract. The overall hit of the contract is the same, but lowering this year’s hit and raising future years
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