Across this week I want to focus on different things to do with contracts, Monday was Deshaun Watson and insurance money, looking at what we do and don’t know. Yesterday a focus is on the players who are set to hit the open market next year.
Today we are focusing on cut candidates. Before finishing the week with players battling for an extension and those playing for a pay rise due to Proven Performance Escalator.
When a player finishes his third year after being drafted it is a key offseason in their NFL careers, this is the first time they can negotiate an extension per the Collective Bargaining Agreement. If a team isn’t looking to extend a player then it opens the door to lining up their replacement during the NFL Draft. For UDFAs they can negotiate an extension a year earlier after season two is completed.
When looking at cut candidates, they need to have a full year remaining. I’m not going to include Deshaun Watson who has a dummy year in his deal which allows the team to make him a Post June 1st cut once the new league year starts in March. This splits his dead cap over 2026, 2027 and 2028. He has a $200m base salary in 2029 to force this cut, which is what makes it a fake/dummy year even though officially he is under contract next year.
This is currently the only player set up this way. Grant Delpit, Maliek Collins and Teven Jenkins have void years, which just split the dead cap over 2026 and 2027.
With cut candidates it is about looking at a few factors, what the player offers you verses the cash sum they are set to be paid as well as can the money be spent better somewhere else. Contracts are all about cash and guarantees, people looking at salary cap numbers are often focusing on the wrong thing. I’m only looking at the players where serious money is on the table, saving $1,406,030 by cutting Dillon Gabriel isn’t going to be covered here.
Some of these players could also be traded too, but I’m not exploring that hypothetical a year early.