Gaughn: Williams Contract Details...

[shaunta53]

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/billboa...t-details.html

Mario Williams' record-breaking contract with the Buffalo Bills is about as spread out as you can get for a deal so large. That benefits both the Bills, who want the salary-cap hits to be relatively even, and Williams, who doesn't want the deal back-loaded to the point where he's sure to get released later on. In other words, it's not a phony-money deal, which the Bills don't do.

The deal is for six years and $96 million. It goes up to $100 million counting incentives. Here are the particulars, obtained by The News:

Williams got an initial signing bonus of $19 million. He gets a base salary this year of $5.9 million. In 2013, he gets an option bonus of $8 million, with a base salary of $6.5 million. In 2014, he gest a roster bonus of $10.6 million with a base salary of $1.9 million. In 2015, he gets a roster bonus of $1 million with a base salary of $12.1 million. In 2016, he gets a roster bonus of $2.5 million with a base salary of $11.5 million. In 2017, he gets a roster bonus of $3.5 million with a base salary of $11.4 million. He also has workout bonuses that amount to a total of $2.1 million over the first five years of the contract.

Williams gets $53 million over the first three years of the contract. Chicago's Julius Peppers was the previous highest paid defensive player in NFL history. His contract called for $40.5 million the first three years. So that's a significant upgrade for Williams.

The guarantees in a contract get a bit complicated. Money can be guaranteed against three events: injury (meaning the money is paid even if the player gets hurt), skill (meaning the player gets the money even if he gets cut because he's not good enough) and salary cap (meaning the player gets the money regardless of what cap problems the team encounters). The guarantee can count for any one or all of the three. In Williams' deal, the first $25 million is fully guaranteed. The next $25 million is guaranteed against injury only. Presuming he doesn't join a monastery in Tibet in the next year and he gets the $8 million option bonus, then $39.4 million will be guaranteed. The last $10.6 million guaranteed in 2014 is for injury only. Williams obviously is not going to get cut due to lack of skill. And the NFL is expected to see a big jump in the salary cap in two years when new television contracts kick in.

---Mark Gaughan

[shaunta53]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

[JKerie]

That's actually very reasonable. Good win-win contract. Thanks for posting.

[BuffaloBlood]

I like it.

Seems like it's built to actually keep him here for the life of the contract, and not hit us with crippling cap hits in the latter years of the deal.

Seems like a sound method for controlling the cap and not ending up in salary cap purgatory.

[BLO-N-SD]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

Which means we should still have a boat load of salary cap money we can spend right?

[kanatablues]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

I think they've blown through that, tbh. However, this is on RW stepping up the plate, many tx ...

[The Rigante Hammer]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

So we still have a lot of wiggle room for another decent FA and resigning Bell?

[psuscott16]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

So we still have a lot of room under the cap, but Cash to the cap is pretty much toast. If I understand it all correctly.

[shaunta53]

Which means we should still have a boat load of salary cap money we can spend right?

Yes but the Bills (and 21 other teams) do not use the standard salary cap spending philosophies...

[blitzboy54]

Nice... very solid. Fair deal all the way around for a contract of this magnitude

[steptide]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

So we still have roughly 15 mil in cap space? That's pretty nice

[54 spielman]

Well worth the gamble for an elite DE. Once the "big jump in the salary cap" occurs in two years, this could look like an even better deal for us.

[Dirty_bird18]

So we still have a lot of wiggle room for another decent FA and resigning Bell?

Probably need to shave about 5mill off that number for the rookie deals. Also will wanna keep some in your back pocket for injuries thoughout the regular season.

But, with that said there is still some room, to extend Freddy and pickup some lower end FA's for depth/upgrade.

[FlutieShakes]

Again. Kudos to Overdorf

[shaunta53]

I think they've blown through that, tbh. However, this is on RW stepping up the plate, many tx ...

Where's Bumbles when you need him...

[NOVABilliever]

His cash to cap hit is 24.9 Million.

His salary cap hit for this year is 9 Million.

The Bills are still well under the salary cap. However they are pushing their cash-to-cap spending limit (just like Nix said he could/would do).

Wow, yeah, I read it as a 9 million cap as well (9.06, right?). I like this, and it's what I've been thinking- that the Bills are still well under the cap, and they can still move around a little bit in FA. Then after draft and cuts, they can still be well-below the cap. Excellent news.

[Squirrel]

Backloaded!

[kanatablues]

The Bills still gotta pay extend Freddie/Levitre/Byrd, rookie pool, and leave some space for bonus/incentives as well as injury replacement.

At this point, there's some salary cap room but not alot, the real limit is gonna be RW's willingness to spend a few more bucks.

[hemma]

That $25 mill is a pretty big injury #. I wonder if the Bills/other teams go to Lloyd's and try to find an insurance carrier. Big risk so would be a pretty big premium, I guess.

[kanatablues]

Where's Bumbles when you need him...

Lol, sleeping one off?

Fwiw, this site has updated the figures for cash-to-the-cap with the contract:

http://nyjetscap.com/Bills/bills2012.php

Current Estimated Cash Spend: $124,617,791(all players on roster, not top 53)