Cap affect of paying as you go vs pushing out and having dead space

[bobblehead]

Agree. Converting salary to bonus is borrowing against future cap space.

As for this:
20M signing bonus
42M total guaranteed roster bonuses
62M guarantees between the two types of bonuses

those roster bonuses are NOT guaranteed if you aren't on the roster. Usually it's paid on the first day of the new season in March (or third or some other early day in the new season) and all it does is make sure that player gets that money if they get cut. It's effectively guaranteed salary.

Right, but my point was that the contract wasn't written that way. The salary was converted after we decided we were keeping him for another year. Since vets are guaranteed on day one of the season it only changed the accounting, not the reality.

[sharpe1027]

Right, but my point was that the contract wasn't written that way. The salary was converted after we decided we were keeping him for another year. Since vets are guaranteed on day one of the season it only changed the accounting, not the reality.

The difference comes into play is subsequent years where if they didn't push the cap forward they might be able to trade or cut a player and not to take a huge cap hit. That can end up keeping a player a year or two longer and costing more overall.