[MrNFL_FanIQ]

Quote: Originally Posted by sw45

OK, I have another question, lets say I sign a first round rookie to a 5 year, 25 million doller deal with a 1 million signing bonus. Lets say this player turns out to be a huge bust, and is just wasting space on my roster. Why do people say it's better to keep him and cut him late in his contract insted of just cutting him early on?

Because it will kill your cap if they have a very high signing bonus.

Always check what the penalty will be. If the player costs 5 million on the cap, and the penalty is 3 million, you would save only 2 million by cutting him, and would still have to pay the 3 for that season.

Let's say you have a bust, $25 million (5 mil a year), 5 years, $10 million signing bonus. The signing bonus is spread out evenly throughout the 5 years.

If you cut him in year 2, you'd have a 8 million penalty despite only having $5 mil against the salary. Cutting the player would cost you an extra $3 million. It would be cheaper to keep him on the roster, even if he is a bust until you can at least split even on him.