Chase not Practicing

[Joelist]

Interestingly, every link saying the escrow rule isn't required leads back to the same PFT article. It's from Florio who is not exactly a paragon of honesty. So, assumi9ng this is a real rule it is likely a league rule. Signing bonuses would count against it so the rule would be that the guarantee upon signing that has to be escrowed is the total minus any lump sum payments like signing bonuses. Remember Burrows deal had guarantees that phased in over time - this cut down the amount needed up front.

That's why I am assuming the holdup is the structure of the guarantees. Remember the Bengals Operating Income is about 140 million a year - which includes the revenue sharing. So they have to fit everything into the cash they have stacked up, some of which they already used in Free Agency.