Question on "Dead Cap Space"

[Drewtone]

Folks -

Just thinking about the reason why we're convinced that we're stuck with Carson because of the $15M we'd eat in dead cap space if we let him go...

When Luck retired, keep in mind that Irsay let him keep the ~$14M that could've been reclaimed by the team.... this was to keep the possibility of a return open. Am I assuming correctly that this $14M was on the cap effectively as dead space as well? Dead space because he never came back.

I guess I'm getting at the fact that we cannot assume that Irsay wouldn't allow us to take the hit if he thought we needed to.

[CletusPyle]

This is a pretty good article on the Salary Cap and "dead cap space".....

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/salary-cap-101-explaining-dead-money-and-the-nfl-salary-cap/ar-BB1dWOri

[Dewey 5]

As long as Ballard leaves the next GM cap room to do what needs to be done is all I care about.

[Dam8610]

Folks -

Just thinking about the reason why we're convinced that we're stuck with Carson because of the $15M we'd eat in dead cap space if we let him go...

When Luck retired, keep in mind that Irsay let him keep the ~$14M that could've been reclaimed by the team.... this was to keep the possibility of a return open. Am I assuming correctly that this $14M was on the cap effectively as dead space as well? Dead space because he never came back.

I guess I'm getting at the fact that we cannot assume that Irsay wouldn't allow us to take the hit if he thought we needed to.

A $15 million cap hit is if you give him a post June 1 designation, meaning he'd count $15 million against the cap in 2022 AND 2023. His dead money for 2022 is actually $30 million. That is why he will be the starting QB in 2022. His dead money hit in 2023 is $0, which means if he isn't good in 2022, he's gone. When the trade was made, it was obviously a 2 year experiment, having the potential to give up a 1 and the dead money situation made that obvious. Year 1 indicates the experiment probably won't work out. We'll see what happens Year 2, but there's no obligation for a Year 3 if it doesn't work.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Folks -

Just thinking about the reason why we're convinced that we're stuck with Carson because of the $15M we'd eat in dead cap space if we let him go...

When Luck retired, keep in mind that Irsay let him keep the ~$14M that could've been reclaimed by the team.... this was to keep the possibility of a return open. Am I assuming correctly that this $14M was on the cap effectively as dead space as well? Dead space because he never came back.

I guess I'm getting at the fact that we cannot assume that Irsay wouldn't allow us to take the hit if he thought we needed to.


Luck's dead cap hit for the 2019 NFL season was more than that number.

His dead cap hit was a combination of:

$12M Roster Bonus
$6M+ prorated portion of Signing Bonus

The final cap hit was between $18 - 19M for 2019.

[Dam8610]

Luck's dead cap hit for the 2019 NFL season was more than that number.

His dead cap hit was a combination of:

$12M Roster Bonus
$6M+ prorated portion of Signing Bonus

The final cap hit was between $18 - 19M for 2019.

Which is way less than $30 million.

[AlwaysSunnyinIndy]

Which is way less than $30 million.

And it was more than $14M - which is what I was indicating.

[Ironshaft]

Carson Wentz 2022 Cap Hit =

$22.000m in 2022 salary (of which $15m is fully guaranteed)
$06.294m in 2022 roster bonus to be paid on the 3rd day of the NFL year
=======
$28.294m cap hit if he is on the roster


The Colts are either paying him $28.3m of cap space to play for us or $15.0m of cap space to go be on someone else's roster. It is that simple.

Of course, the question is, can the Colts find someone else with that extra $13.3m in now free cap space that can give us the same or better level of performance that Carson did in 2021? I have no idea what the answer to that question is.