You've Got Mail: The Season Has Ended

[Big Red]

So this is a good time to touch on basic salary cap info, and we can use David Johnson's contract as an example. If a player gets a signing bonus at the outset of a deal, the team that signs him pays him that money up front and is on the hook cap-wise for the entire amount. They do get to spread that cap number through the length of the deal -- unless that player is cut or traded, in which case the balance of the bonus cap hit accelerates on to the current cap. So, in Johnson's case, he got a $12 million signing bonus spread over four seasons. So, with two years left on his contract, there is still $6 million of cap hit still to be accounted for (the money, as I said, has actually already been paid.) In Johnson's case, he still has a $10.2M salary (guaranteed) due for 2020, according to overthecap.com.


Because of the way the cap is figured, if you were to cut him, the Cards would absorb that entire $16.2M cap hit. If he remains on the team (because of the prorated bonuses, and a roster bonus and per-game bonuses) his cap hit for 2020 would be $2M less, because you would still be spreading out that signing bonus over two years. Now, if Johnson were to be traded with his contract as is, the new team would indeed take that current $10.2M salary, but the Cardinals would still take the $6M cap hit for the bonus. (This mechanism is true for any contract.)

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