Taysom Hill creates $7.75 million in cap space with special accounting restructuring

AsylumGuido · 03-15-2021, 04:05 PM

Originally Posted by gosaints1

”...salary is not "dead weight/dead money" because it not guaranteed”

Incorrect, salaries can be anything all the way up to “fully guaranteed”. - From the NFL’s web page defining “Dead Money”:

Dead money: Refers to salary a team has already paid or has committed to paying (i.e., a signing bonus, fully guaranteed base salaries, earned bonuses, etc.) but has not been charged against the salary cap.

https://www.nfl.com/news/2020-nfl-fr...p3000001106817

Andrew Brandt was the Packer’s Vice President of Finance, he was a key member in managing a cap for over a decade. Actually, he managed the transfer of contracts from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. I trust him when he says the following:

“Dead money is cap accounting for players no longer on a team’s roster, “dead weight” that hamstrings teams from signing “live” players.”

&

Cap gurus magically create cap room by moving it into future years.

“No. You could do that and, sorry, no, you wouldn’t be a cap guru. You could take a big salary or a big bonus (not currently prorated), turn it into signing bonus (prorated) and, in the stroke of the player’s pen, cap room would magically appear and the problem would be deferred, although not solved.”

And I trust the NFL’s def’n of “dead money” above. We can debate the philosophical differences in managing an NFL team’s cap, but the def’n of dead money is defined, unambiguously, by the NFL. Seriously..., do you just wake up in the morning and decide to make crap up?

If you read back earlier you will see that I said that on rare occasions salaries can be guaranteed and in those cases can be part of dead money.

What I have stated is perfectly in line with the definition that you posted for "dead money". Note that my references to salary is the same as base salary (as opposed to bonuses). Except for the caveat of guaranteed future base salary (as I myself stressed earlier) all amounts making up "dead money" are for services already rendered. That includes the service of signing the original contract and the service of being on the roster as of a certain date in the case of that roster bonus being converted to a signing bonus for proration purposes.

I know exactly what I am talking about and I don't make crap up. I understand the displeasure associated with accounting for those expenditures later, but it is the same as the case with your contractor. You wish you didn't have to make those payments in years two through five, but the work was done.

The only legitimate gripe you can have in the case of dead money is indeed unearned future guaranteed salary. One more point is that not all guaranteed salaries are included in dead money. One common use of salary guarantees is date driven. Instead of game day distribution the contract can guarantee each year's salary for the entire season on say the second day of the league year. In that case that one year of the base salary could be part of the accounted for dead money if the player was released/traded/retired/died after that date. One could argue, however, that it was contractually "earned" by being on the roster at that date, much like the roster bonus.

But, as I stated the vast majority of all dead money HAS been earned already.

While some people thrill in the draft I have been a fan of the cap and contract side for years. My degree is in Accounting and my most favorite field of accounting has always been cost accounting. That is the basis for cap management. I take it as a personal insult being accused of waking up in the morning and deciding to make crap up. I understand that some of these concepts are difficult for some to comprehend. That's why people like Andrew Brandt choose to give as simplistic an explanation as possible for the term "dead money" when asked "why are we paying someone who isn't on the team anymore?" I totally respect Brandt. He's one of my favorite experts on the business side of the NFL. I've learned quite a bit from him on the subject. He's on NFL Radio multiple times a week especially this time of the year.

03-15-2021, 04:05 PM	#15
AsylumGuido 10000 POST CLUB Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bossier City, LA Posts: 26,472	Re: Taysom Hill creates $7.75 million in cap space with special accounting restructuring Originally Posted by gosaints1 ”...salary is not "dead weight/dead money" because it not guaranteed” Incorrect, salaries can be anything all the way up to “fully guaranteed”. - From the NFL’s web page defining “Dead Money”: Dead money: Refers to salary a team has already paid or has committed to paying (i.e., a signing bonus, fully guaranteed base salaries, earned bonuses, etc.) but has not been charged against the salary cap. https://www.nfl.com/news/2020-nfl-fr...p3000001106817 Andrew Brandt was the Packer’s Vice President of Finance, he was a key member in managing a cap for over a decade. Actually, he managed the transfer of contracts from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers. I trust him when he says the following: “Dead money is cap accounting for players no longer on a team’s roster, “dead weight” that hamstrings teams from signing “live” players.” & Cap gurus magically create cap room by moving it into future years. “No. You could do that and, sorry, no, you wouldn’t be a cap guru. You could take a big salary or a big bonus (not currently prorated), turn it into signing bonus (prorated) and, in the stroke of the player’s pen, cap room would magically appear and the problem would be deferred, although not solved.” And I trust the NFL’s def’n of “dead money” above. We can debate the philosophical differences in managing an NFL team’s cap, but the def’n of dead money is defined, unambiguously, by the NFL. Seriously..., do you just wake up in the morning and decide to make crap up? If you read back earlier you will see that I said that on rare occasions salaries can be guaranteed and in those cases can be part of dead money. What I have stated is perfectly in line with the definition that you posted for "dead money". Note that my references to salary is the same as base salary (as opposed to bonuses). Except for the caveat of guaranteed future base salary (as I myself stressed earlier) all amounts making up "dead money" are for services already rendered. That includes the service of signing the original contract and the service of being on the roster as of a certain date in the case of that roster bonus being converted to a signing bonus for proration purposes. I know exactly what I am talking about and I don't make crap up. I understand the displeasure associated with accounting for those expenditures later, but it is the same as the case with your contractor. You wish you didn't have to make those payments in years two through five, but the work was done. The only legitimate gripe you can have in the case of dead money is indeed unearned future guaranteed salary. One more point is that not all guaranteed salaries are included in dead money. One common use of salary guarantees is date driven. Instead of game day distribution the contract can guarantee each year's salary for the entire season on say the second day of the league year. In that case that one year of the base salary could be part of the accounted for dead money if the player was released/traded/retired/died after that date. One could argue, however, that it was contractually "earned" by being on the roster at that date, much like the roster bonus. But, as I stated the vast majority of all dead money HAS been earned already. While some people thrill in the draft I have been a fan of the cap and contract side for years. My degree is in Accounting and my most favorite field of accounting has always been cost accounting. That is the basis for cap management. I take it as a personal insult being accused of waking up in the morning and deciding to make crap up. I understand that some of these concepts are difficult for some to comprehend. That's why people like Andrew Brandt choose to give as simplistic an explanation as possible for the term "dead money" when asked "why are we paying someone who isn't on the team anymore?" I totally respect Brandt. He's one of my favorite experts on the business side of the NFL. I've learned quite a bit from him on the subject. He's on NFL Radio multiple times a week especially this time of the year.
	“The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” — Winston Churchill