DJ Reader a Bengal

[*TheLeonardLeap*]

(04-03-2020, 08:58 PM)Whatever Wrote: What top tier UFA in their prime from a playoff team is going to take a backloaded deal to leave and go to a 2-14 team?  If such a player was going to to take a backloaded deal, it would be with a contender that is short on cap space.  Or, it would be a situation like Dalton's where he had limited leverage and wanted to create cap space to re-up other key players.

Players and agents grew wise to the backloaded deal tactic years ago.  Teams would sign guys to high dollar backloaded contracts to make it sound like the player was going to break the bank, then cut bait before the player hit the really big money.

Bears were coming off 3-13 and 5-11 seasons when they signed Khalil Mack to a 6yr/$141m deal.

The first 2 years of the contract have cap hits of $13.8m and $11.9m. The final two years have cap hits of $25.5m and $23.25m.

He can be cut before those final two years with just $2.6m in dead cap space.

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It's not 100% the exact scenario you just posed, but you also just gave 7 qualifiers to the situation which pretty much ensures that nothing will ever meet all 7. That said, it's a pretty close example of an elite guy in his prime taking a backloaded deal with a new (losing) team.