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Dalton Deal Done


HoosierCat

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PFT's full write up:


/>http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/08/04/dalton-gets-17-million-now-22-million-through-early-march/

No, Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton’s contract isn’t worth $115 million over six years, as others have reported. The base value, per a source with knowledge of the details, is $96 million over six years.

That doesn’t mean it’s time to have a bake sale for Andy Dalton. Still, that’s a $19 million gap between initial reports and reality.

The most important numbers are the numbers fully guaranteed at signing. Dalton receives a signing bonus of $12 million and a roster bonus in three days of $5 million. That’s a total of $17 million out of the gates. Coupled with his $986,000 base salary (which isn’t guaranteed as a legal matter but it is as a practical matter), Dalton will make $18 million in the first year of the deal.

Then, on the third day of the 2015 league year in March, Dalton earns a $4 million roster bonus. He also has a $3 million non-guaranteed base salary in 2015. That’s $25 million over two years.

Dalton passed on the opportunity to load injury-only guarantees into the contract, since the Bengals would have wanted Dalton to buy a disability policy similar to the one that the 49ers had Colin Kaepernick buy as part of his six-year extension. The policy cost $2 million in pre-tax dollars, and (as we’ll explain in a separate post) creates a bizarre donut hole of protection for the player and the team.

The rest of the base deal is simple. In addition to annual workout bonuses of $200,000, Dalton has base salaries of $10.5 million in 2016, $13.1 million in 2017, $13.7 million in 2018, $16 million in 2019, and $17.5 million in 2020.

Unlike the Kaepernick deal, which loaded up the base value artificially and then used de-escalators based on playing time and team or personal achievements, Dalton’s deal potentially goes up, not down.

If in any year he participates in 80-percent of the regular-season snaps and the Bengals get to the divisional round of the playoffs (via wild-card win or bye), he gets another $1 million in each additional year of the deal. If he qualifies at any point for the conference title game (with 80-percent playing time in the regular season), another $500,000 flows into the base value of the deal, for each additional year. If he wins a Super Bowl he won’t be driving off in a Hyundai; Dalton will get another $1.5 million per year for each remaining year of the deal.

So if the Bengals win the next Super Bowl this year and if Dalton participates in 80 percent of the regular-season snaps in 2014, he’ll get another $18 million over the life of the deal, pushing the new-money average from $16 million per year to $19 million. Getting to the divisional round this year pushes the new-money average to $17 million.

The contract nevertheless remains, like Kaepernick’s, mostly a year-to-year proposition, with Dalton being guaranteed as a practical matter two years and $25 million. That’s a lot more than he would have made over the next two seasons if he’d played out his rookie deal and then been slapped with the franchise tag. Beyond 2015, however, it’s a one-year-at-a-time existence no different than Kaepernick’s.

For most NFL players, that’s how it now works. And if teams are going to insist on disability policies payable to the franchise in the event of a serious injury, the franchise quarterback is better off forgetting about injury-only guarantees, buying the policy, and making it payable to himself.

The contract shows that the Kaepernick structure is taking root. That won’t change until a franchise quarterback hits the market, a franchise quarterback signs a deal in lieu of going year-to-year under the franchise tag, or the Seahawks opt to give Russell Wilson a more favorable structure if only to highlight that Seattle treats its core players more fairly than the 49ers do.

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OK, I'm about as ignorant as they come. Can someone explain to me how incentives work in a contract like this? Specifically, if the Bengals do make it to the SB this year (or in any given year), based on the reports of the escalators that means the team owes Dalton an extra $19mil. How does that affect the cap? Does this figure Hobsonize $19 mil of cap space for the length of the contract, or is that cap hit spread out over the life of the deal?

Edit:

If in any year he participates in 80-percent of the regular-season snaps and the Bengals get to the divisional round of the playoffs (via wild-card win or bye), he gets another $1 million in each additional year of the deal. If he qualifies at any point for the conference title game (with 80-percent playing time in the regular season), another $500,000 flows into the base value of the deal, for each additional year. If he wins a Super Bowl he won’t be driving off in a Hyundai; Dalton will get another $1.5 million per year for each remaining year of the deal.

So if the Bengals win the next Super Bowl this year and if Dalton participates in 80 percent of the regular-season snaps in 2014, he’ll get another $18 million over the life of the deal, pushing the new-money average from $16 million per year to $19 million. Getting to the divisional round this year pushes the new-money average to $17 million.

Ok, I think I'm getting it now. Looks like they'll need to account for $3mil in escalators from his contract every year... right?

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And the final detail:

Albert Breer ‏@AlbertBreer now

Dalton can earn the $19 million by hitting triggers in qualifying for the divisional round, the conference title game, and the Super Bowl.

Works for me.

Agreed

He also gets a $5 million roster bonus in three days. The guaranteed money is just $17 million -- the roster bonus and Dalton's signing bonus. Dalton was already under contract for a little over $1 million this year, so across seven seasons the base value of his new contract is essentially $97.09 million -- $13.87 million annually. Dalton can earn another $19 million through escalators, per PFT. People, on Twitter, at least, freaked out about the initially-reported worth, but this is going to end up being a front-loaded, team-friendly deal.


/>http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NFL&id=6493&line=291151&spln=1

Basically it's $14 mill with a few escalators with very little guaranteed money. I think that's a fair deal for all concerned

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OK, I'm about as ignorant as they come. Can someone explain to me how incentives work in a contract like this? Specifically, if the Bengals do make it to the SB this year (or in any given year), based on the reports of the escalators that means the team owes Dalton an extra $19mil. How does that affect the cap? Does this figure Hobsonize $19 mil of cap space for the length of the contract, or is that cap hit spread out over the life of the deal?

PFT doesn't spell it out specifically but I strongly suspect that to earn the full $19 million, Dalton would have to lead the team to a Super Bowl win this year. Then all the additional $$$ would be tucked into his salary going forward.

So if he doesn't hit any of the incentives this season, $3 million of that $19 million goes away. Ditto in following years until it's reduced to zero.

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Bring on the people that hate this sweet deal.

Let me guess, it won't be worth the money if he wins the Super Bowl ??

Kap and Wilson both have STOUT running games and defenses that match or surpass ours.

I think a focus on the running game with Gio and Hill will be a difference maker this season.

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OK, I'm about as ignorant as they come. Can someone explain to me how incentives work in a contract like this? Specifically, if the Bengals do make it to the SB this year (or in any given year), based on the reports of the escalators that means the team owes Dalton an extra $19mil. How does that affect the cap? Does this figure Hobsonize $19 mil of cap space for the length of the contract, or is that cap hit spread out over the life of the deal?

PFT doesn't spell it out specifically but I strongly suspect that to earn the full $19 million, Dalton would have to lead the team to a Super Bowl win this year. Then all the additional $$$ would be tucked into his salary going forward.

So if he doesn't hit any of the incentives this season, $3 million of that $19 million goes away. Ditto in following years until it's reduced to zero.

ok, thanks. So he has incentive to get those postseason wins as early as possible in his contract (although wildcard wins won't count). Also, if once he hits one of those incentives, there are no additional triggers for it in future years. So a divisional round win this year (worth $7mil) would seem to be the single biggest financial trigger in this contract.

EDIT:

wrong again - the $1.5mil for making it to the SB is not a one-time bonus, but actually raises the base salary by $1.5 for subsequent years. Sorry for the confusion. Like I said, I'm a little slow on the uptake.

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Much easier to understand in table form:


/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/andy-dalton/

This is an excellent deal.

Excellent indeed.

Since I kept mentioning the Matt (0-3 in his first 3 playoff appearances) Ryan contract, here's a nice comparison.
/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/atlanta-falcons/matt-ryan/

Look at the dead money in his deal over the next four years.

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Yup, it's all one time only, so the sooner he wins the better. Basically, if the Bengals make the divisional round this year, he gets an additional $6 million (assuming he plays out the whole deal, since it's done as an addition to annual salary). If they win and get to the conference championship, he gets another $3 million. If they win the Super Bowl this season, he gets $9 million more.

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Since I kept mentioning the Matt (0-3 in his first 3 playoff appearances) Ryan contract, here's a nice comparison.
/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/atlanta-falcons/matt-ryan/

Look at the dead money in his deal over the next four years.

Man, go look at Flacco's! :blink:


/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens/joe-flacco/

Yet Ozzie, he's a genius...

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Since I kept mentioning the Matt (0-3 in his first 3 playoff appearances) Ryan contract, here's a nice comparison.
/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/atlanta-falcons/matt-ryan/

Look at the dead money in his deal over the next four years.

Man, go look at Flacco's! :blink:/>


/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens/joe-flacco/

Yet Ozzie, he's a genius...

HOLY BALLS !!!

Way to go Katie !!!

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Much easier to understand in table form:


/>http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/cincinnati-bengals/andy-dalton/

This is an excellent deal.

That table doesn't jive with other sources. Where's the "escalator clauses"? Shouldn't those be in the incentive column?

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Here's an alternative breakdown from deadspin. Setting aside the $19 million in playoff incentives, the base deal shapes up like this:

Two years, $25 million.

Three years, $35.7 million

Four years, $49 million.

Five years, $62.9 million.

Six years, $79.1 million.

Seven years, $96.8 million.

That's an average of $12.2m to $13.8m a year.

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The more I look at the deal the more impressed I am with one K. Blackburn, Super-Negotiator.

If you told me 3-4 months ago we would sign Dalton to a deal averaging $13 million a year with less than $20 million guaranteed, I would have called you nuts.

And yes, it could be more if he wins the Super Bowl. As Army says if that happens no one will care.

This is a hell of a deal. FO done good.

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No doubt Hoosier this is a great deal! I was worried they would be tied up on offense and the defense side would struggle, like it was when they did the Palmer deal. This is not the case, still room to get other guys done, I'm excited about it. Now let's see Dalton improve this year and show he is worth it!

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Read the article that said he's making three times what he's worth,I call BS and I'm very happy with this contract.

Matt Ryan,Flacco and Cutler deals are retarded Dalton/Kaepernick are the way they should be until proven elite...Glad to see Andy take very reasonable deal that will help pay the other players.

PS,get Vontez done next.

If you told me 3-4 months ago we would sign Dalton to a deal averaging $13 million a year with less than $20 million guaranteed, I would have called you nuts.

Right? I was wanting to see 12-15 million dollar contract but finally came terms with fact he was probably going to get 17-20,I'll be glad to see him get that if and when we win a superbowl ^.^

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We owe an assist to the SF front office. As a team we aren't married to one player. We can play Andy pretty much as long as we want to. If we have to move on, we can. Almost too much to ask for, but the unholy triad asked for it, and got it. Glad I did my breathing exercises.

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