Question about cap penalties

[kpkpkp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jr.

If a player is released during the season, their penalty is divided over the next 2 seasons. The penalty for the current season will be whatever his yearly signing bonus is. The penalty for the next season will be the remainder of the bonus amount. If a player is released during the offseason, the entire penalty is applied to the upcoming season.

I have some questions to further clarify this;

If I cut a player during off-season with 1.5mil cap hit plus his 150K a year bonus on a 3 year deal... I have to pay his full bonus amount of 450K as penalty in the upcoming season, right? Conversely; if I cut him mid-season I would then pay 150K for the current season and 300K the following season?

More importantly.... Does this "penalty" now come from my cap space? Or do you continue to pay it from the "owner" money?

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by kpkpkp

I have some questions to further clarify this; If I cut a player during off-season with 1.5mil cap hit plus his 150K a year bonus on a 3 year deal... I have to pay his full bonus amount of 450K as penalty in the upcoming season, right? Conversely; if I cut him mid-season I would then pay 150K for the current season and 300K the following season?

Correct.

Quote: Originally Posted by kpkpkp

More importantly.... Does this "penalty" now come from my cap space? Or do you continue to pay it from the "owner" money?

The penalty comes from your cap space. The total amount of the bonus is taken from your owner funds once the contract is signed. So if you sign a player to a 5 year deal with a $3M per year bonus, you will have $15M taken from your owner funds immediately.

[kpkpkp]

Quote: Originally Posted by Jr.

Correct. The penalty comes from your cap space. The total amount of the bonus is taken from your owner funds once the contract is signed. So if you sign a player to a 5 year deal with a $3M per year bonus, you will have $15M taken from your owner funds immediately.

Woah, I didn't realize the $15 in signing bonus is taken right away, I just thought the first years worth was... but now I'm wondering something else...

If I were to cut this player in year 2 of his deal (so 4 years remain) I would have to pay $12 million in his remaining bonus over 2 years from my cap space even though he got it all when he signed?

Isn't he getting his remaining bonus doubled then?

[preaceps]

The 15 million would be taken out right away. But its spread over all the years. Meaning yes you would get a hit of 12million that 2nd year. But it would not come out of the funds that you see on main screen, your available cash

[mercalnd]

Quote: Originally Posted by kpkpkp

Woah, I didn't realize the $15 in signing bonus is taken right away, I just thought the first years worth was... but now I'm wondering something else... If I were to cut this player in year 2 of his deal (so 4 years remain) I would have to pay $12 million in his remaining bonus over 2 years from my cap space even though he got it all when he signed? Isn't he getting his remaining bonus doubled then?

You are not paying the cap penalties. It's just that your cap room gets reduced by the amount of the penalty. The actual payment has already been made. Even if you keep the player, you aren't actually paying him the bonus money every year but it's all paid up front and then amortized over the duration of the deal on the cap.

[kpkpkp]

Quote: Originally Posted by mercalnd

You are not paying the cap penalties. It's just that your cap room gets reduced by the amount of the penalty. The actual payment has already been made. Even if you keep the player, you aren't actually paying him the bonus money every year but it's all paid up front and then amortized over the duration of the deal on the cap.

OK thanks, I think I finally understand about cutting/trading/releasing guys and how it affects cap.

Apparently I didn't understand it very much,lol.

So let me ask his... If I sign a guy to a 4 year deal with 1.5mil salary and 1mil bonus each year I have to pay 4million right away from my Owners funds for his full bonus. And my cap immediately goes down by 1.5mil? Or is it 2.5mil?

And then if I cut him a year later he will have 3 years left... I get a "cap hit" 3mil divided over 2 seasons (so 1.5mil each year)

Thanks again.

[Jr.]

Quote: Originally Posted by kpkpkp

OK thanks, I think I finally understand about cutting/trading/releasing guys and how it affects cap. Apparently I didn't understand it very much,lol. So let me ask his... If I sign a guy to a 4 year deal with 1.5mil salary and 1mil bonus each year I have to pay 4million right away from my Owners funds for his full bonus. And my cap immediately goes down by 1.5mil? Or is it 2.5mil? And then if I cut him a year later he will have 3 years left... I get a "cap hit" 3mil divided over 2 seasons (so 1.5mil each year) Thanks again.

Basically. The Cap # shows what you're paying all of your players for each individual season. Madden sets up contracts to be more expensive at the end than at the beginning. So that 4 year contract won't be $2.5M per year (salary + bonus) because the salary will escalate throughout the contract while it averages $1.5M per season.

For the 2nd part, that is a little off. If you cut the guy a year later the cap penalty for that season will be $1M (because that's the yearly bonus amount for cap purposes) and $2M the following year (because that is what will remain from the bonus).

[kpkpkp]

Thanks guys! I finally get it, lol.

Boy... did I create some weird contracts without realizing it. Apparently I got a big cap hit coming my way too because I didn't realize I was on the hook for the bonus still when trading a guy.

Whoops.

Anyways, thanks again.