Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldcolt
We need playmakers. Bell is one. He was also considered one of the best if not the best pass protecting back in the league. He was a great pass option out of the backfield. I think Reich could do a hell of a lot with him. I completely agree with Omaha that the amount of money and his past drug use are huge issues. If you can structure his contract that we can financially live with that doesn't strap us going forward (maybe front loaded) and protects us from any loss due to drug issues it could work out. If not put the resources somewhere else, but lets use them (ie spend some of Irsay's money)
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Ballard, so far, has structured all of his veteran contracts as:
1. No signing bonus
2. First year guaranteed salary
3. First year guaranteed roster bonus
4. No guaranteed money otherwise
Every contract Ballard has signed, except high round rookie contracts, has been structured so that the team actaully saves cap space by year two if the player needed to be cut (i.e. no guaranteed money left).
For example:
Jonathan Hankins, 3-years, $27.5m total, zero signing bonus.
Year 1, $3m salary (guaranteed), $7.5m roster bonus (guaranteed), $10.5m guaranteed and paid in year one.
Year 2, $8m salary, $500k roster bonus, neither guaranteed
Year 3, $8m salary, $500k roster bonus, neither guaranteed
All guranteed money was paid year one, no pro-rated amount so he was a cap gain of $8.5m when cut in year two of his time with the Colts.
Jabaal Sheard, 3-years, $25.5m total, zero signing bonus.
Year 1, $2.5m salary (guaranteed), $7.5m roster bonus (guaranteed), $9.5m guaranteed and paid in year one.
Year 2, $7m salary, $500k roster bonus, neither guaranteed
Year 3, $7.5m salary, $500k roster bonus, neither guaranteed
All guaranteed money paid in year one. Net cap gain if cut afterwards.
John Simon's contract followed the same pattern.
Denico Autry's contract from 2018 follows the same pattern.
Eric Ebron's contract from 2018 also follows the same pattern (but only a 2 year contract).
Those are all of the free agents that Ballard has signed to a total contract size of $10m or more (spread out over 2 or 3 years). Same pattern in every one.
I would expect most of Ballard's contract to work the same way going forward. If he needs to sign a mega-star contract (Luck, Bell, Hilton), then he I suspect that he will have to guarantee perhaps the 2nd year salary as well in order to hit the right ratio of guaranteed money to total money that players expect but I don't think he will turn to the signing bonus route and push that money cap hit out 3/4/5 years. That just does not seem to be his MO.
Walk Worthy,