PurpleMustReign wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 5:42 pm
Pondering Her Percy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2019 10:41 am
There’s a lot that goes into it that we don’t have a clue about. But basically they are lowering his base salary this year so it saves us money. The rest of what he makes this year are incentives/bonuses. For example the eagles just restructured Ertz. They turned over $7 million of his base salary into a bonus which saved them over $5 million in cap space (basically what we should have done with Rudy). Thielen will be the same thing. He could literally have a base of $1 million but $10+ million in bonuses
I see. Do bonuses count against the cap? Why wouldn't a team just pay their players bonuses?
Yes, bonuses and incentives count against the cap, same as base salary.
However, those bonuses can be spread out over several years, reducing the cap hit on any one year. So for example, $10 million in bonus money can be spread out over 5 years, resulting in a $2 million per season cap hit. Typical bonus categories are signing bonus (almost always the biggest), roster bonus (basically for making the 53-man), workout bonus, and miscellaneous incentive bonuses based on a number of performance parameters.
I'm not sure how Thielen's contract is set up. Specifics as they pertain to the cap haven't been released, at least not that I can find. I wrote what I did because that's what Ian Rapoport said on TV, and it's also been reported on ESPN.
ESPN.com wrote:Before Thielen signed his extension, the wide receiver was on the books with an $8.1 million cap hit for 2019. It's possible that his number remains close to that, even with the extension, but it could be lowered, allowing the Vikings the flexibility to make other offseason moves and pay their draft class later this month.
As you can see, it's not very specific. My guess is that any cap savings would likely be pretty minimal. The good news here is that the Vikings took care of Thielen without blowing through their available cap space.
