An "outside the box" approach to the Wilson contract

[Dang3Russ]

Looking forward to this contract getting finalized, though it won't probablly be till mid summer or training camp, though it would be nice to see where they sit entering the FA market.

Be nice to structure the contract to maximize the cap hit and surround Russ with a good OL and a solid No.1 receiver. Think they could address this in the draft as well, but to get an OBJ style receive is tough.

 

[Hyak]

My guess is that any deal still has 2015 with a relatively low cap number. I think the out of the box thinking has to do with guaranteeing base salaries with a minimal (relatively) prorated signing bonus to give the Seahawks flexibility to surround Wilson with talent.

RW is smart enough to realize that his off the field endorsements are limitless if the Seahawks are perennial SB contenders. Manning and Brady are at the end of their careers and no offense to Andrew Luck but he's a bigger doofus than Peyton in terms of being an advertising star. Basically it's RW and Aaron Rodgers as the new pitchman. Only works if you are a great player on a winning team.

 

[brimsalabim]

Pay him in ownership shares. If they fully guarentee is contract they wouldn't let him run the RO would they?

 

[Hyak]

Pay him in ownership shares. If they fully guarentee is contract they wouldn't let him run the RO would they?

Ownership shares would not be approved by the NFL/NFLPA. As for guaranteeing base salaries, there are two kinds of guarantees - skill and injury. Most are for injury but you can do both. In fact, that's what Brady did with NE on his last deal. For skill, the team has to fund it out of cash on hand at the beginning of the football year. For injury, it's funded by an insurance policy.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

50 years 150 million roster bonus. $5 bucks a year plus superbowl incentives.

In seriousness though, is there a limit on length of contract? 15 years with a 150 million bonus and a tiny salary keeps the hit at 10 mil per year. You have to trust Russ though...

No there is no limit to the length of a contract only the presence of the salary cap. So yeah you could have a contract that is 15-20 years in length similar to a select few in baseball but it will mess up your cap situation worse the longer it goes.

 

[mikeak]

My guess is that this contract has lower guaranteed money, be very long, and might also be backloaded. That way it can delay the most painful years of the deal to a time when the NFL salary cap might be $20 or $30 million higher than it is right now. The lower guaranteed money would mean more money that is flexible, allowing Seattle to move money around year to year with Wilson's contract to maximize the teams cap efficiency. So for example, if you needed to free up $10 million suddenly, you could just take $10 million out of Wilson's salary that year and spread it out over the remaining years that follow..

Here is my issue with this.

If you backload the contract and make lower guaranteed money then Seattle can cut RW towards the end and not pay that money if he doesn't deliver.

I would understand HIGHER guaranteed money with more backloaded.

Like really creative is not a lot guaranteed the first 2-3 years with lots guaranteed year 4-6. That means you don't cut him early since you can't afford the guaranteed at the end.......

 

[BadgerVid]

I could see Wilson getting a contract that is in the neighborhood of 6 yrs/$125M with something like $50M-$55M in signing bonus that would amortize out in the neighborhood of $10M or so a year and the first 3 yrs salaries being in the range of $2m/$4M/$8M and then up to $15M/$15M/$25M.

That would make the cap hits like $13M/$15M/$19M/$25M/$25M/$25M in a steadily rising cap.

Just my opinion...your mileage may vary.

 

[slargent4ever]

5 mill per year for 200 years.

 

[MizzouHawkGal]

5 mill per year for 200 years.

That's certainly "outside" the box!!

 

[Hasselbeck]

Trade him for Aaron Rodgers straight up.

Hey.. it's outside the box

:stirthepot:

 

[JesterHawk]

175 million over 10 years. 120 million guaranteed with 80 million up front.

2015 salary goes up to 6 million, then 6,7,8,8,9,10,12,14,15 per year respectively.

8 mil per year counts against the cap from the signing bonus so the cap hit ranges from 14 mil to 23 with very slow escalations.

Total value divided by years hits 17.5 million per year but the cap hit is never dire.

 

[BadgerVid]

50 years 150 million roster bonus. $5 bucks a year plus superbowl incentives.

In seriousness though, is there a limit on length of contract? 15 years with a 150 million bonus and a tiny salary keeps the hit at 10 mil per year. You have to trust Russ though...

No limit on contract length, but the signing bonus can only be amortized on a maximum 5 year basis.

 

[JesterHawk]

50 years 150 million roster bonus. $5 bucks a year plus superbowl incentives.

In seriousness though, is there a limit on length of contract? 15 years with a 150 million bonus and a tiny salary keeps the hit at 10 mil per year. You have to trust Russ though...

No limit on contract length, but the signing bonus can only be amortized on a maximum 5 year basis.

Well ok then...that mucks things up a bit.

 

[JesterHawk]

I'm having too much fun with Excel right now...

20 years 215 million. 90 signing bonus. 19m cap hit first 5 years then it's never more than 15 slowly declining after year 7 until he starts making backup money in his 40's lol.

I can't wait to see what Schneider comes up with.

 

[kearly]

Here is my issue with this.

If you backload the contract and make lower guaranteed money then Seattle can cut RW towards the end and not pay that money if he doesn't deliver.

I would understand HIGHER guaranteed money with more backloaded.

Like really creative is not a lot guaranteed the first 2-3 years with lots guaranteed year 4-6. That means you don't cut him early since you can't afford the guaranteed at the end.......

It's basically unheard of to cut a good starting QB because he makes too much in a given year. And if that last year or two is too painful for whatever reason, they could probably trade him without any difficulty, or rework his deal in a new contract extension.

 

[kearly]

Longer deal helps the team. Shorter deal helps Wilson. I think that is probably the only meaningful part of negotiations at this point. My guess is that they compromise at a 5 year deal.

 

[pmedic920]

Serious Question.
Could his NFL salary be subsidized with say, a 20 million a year contract to do Surface endorsements?
Or something of that nature?

Be easy to stay under cap, that way.

 

[Hyak]

Serious Question.
Could his NFL salary be subsidized with say, a 20 million a year contract to do Surface endorsements?

Not as part of his NFL contract no.

Now, it's his own free will to take a cap friendly below market deal and personally bank on off the field endorsements as additional sources of income.

 

[themunn]

I suggest we give Russell a $20m 0 year contract

APY: ?????????? PROFIT

 

[Hawkfan77]

Serious Question.
Could his NFL salary be subsidized with say, a 20 million a year contract to do Surface endorsements?
Or something of that nature?

Be easy to stay under cap, that way.

No, the NFL has people looking into things like this. They do not want teams bypassing the cap system.