Today, 12:34 AM
(Yesterday, 11:56 PM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: You can disagree all you want, but I do believe you are dead wrong. But a contract guru should weigh in. I don't want to be spreading bad info.
Here is the difference: Tee is going from a tag to an new deal. Chase & Trey are playing on existing contracts, at well below what their new deals will be, and are signing extensions.
In Tee's case, the "extension" replaces the tag number. The tag isn't a contract. The only reason we call it an extension now is because the new year has not kicked in and he technically isn't a FA yet. But it is essentially a new contract. On that new deal, a big part will be the signing bonus, which will get pro-rated over the length of the contract. As a consequence, his cap hit will be lower than it would be under the tag. You are 100% correct on Tee.
But for Chase & Trey, no. They are playing under existing contracts. Those do not go away if they sign an extension, which won't kick in until 2026. Except for the signing bonuses, which will get pro-rated over the life of the new extension AND this year. That will have the effect of lowering the cap hit relative to the APY salary over the life of the contract (2026 on), but it will RAISE their cap number this year, as their number would be their existing contract PLUS whatever part of their new deal gets pro-rated to this year.
The only way what you are suggesting could happen is if they rip up their current deals and essentially give them new contracts starting this year instead.
Even so, I STILL doubt their cap hit would go down, because they are signed for WELL below what their new deals would average APY. Take Trey, his deal is for like $18.9 cap hit. We are offering $32 mil per year. Even with reducing the APY by $10 mil per via pro-rating the signing bonus, he'd still come in at $22 per. Chase is the same thing. He is at what, $21.7? His APY is gonna be north of $35 mil. I doubt they can cut that by $14 mil year 1.
But a real contract person needs to weigh in. But that is my understanding. If my understanding is flawed, someone needs to let me know.
And on last thing, ripping up the final year of Trey & Chase's deals is awful dumb from a Bengals perspective, in terms of cap management. Keeping it gives you an extra year in which to pro-rate the signing bonus. Say, Chase gets a 4 year deal with a $50 mil signing bonus. Currently, you could spread thatbout at $10 mil per year (4 + this one). If you rip it up, you are looking at $12.5 per year. 50 divided by 4 instead of 5.
I probably shouldn't chime in because I'm certainly not a cap wizard and I am interested to see if someone breaks it down. But judging by the people that cover the Bengals he is correct. Goodberry is projecting Chase's cap hit to be about 10 mil in 2025. He knows how the Bengals do contracts so I doubt he's being unrealistic. Also he's just an example all the people I've seen expect they cap hits to lower with the exception of trey potentially.
