FinSaint

Way back when it was first hinted that Vilma might be one of those players who'd face a suspension due to their involvement in the claimed Bountygate, some were suggesting that the Saints should outright cut Vilma to free up more cap space. My point back then was that the best scenario for the Saints financially would be for Vilma to get suspended for an entire season while remaining under contract, because it would in effect free up more cap space than cutting him would've.

Even though that is how I still feel about it, I'd love to see Vilma in the starting 3 along with Lofton and Hawthorne (if Wilson is in fact moved to DE), and with Herring and Chamberlain - along with Shanle, Bussey, and Casillas - providing some situational rotation options for Spags. Still, the key determinant in this whole scenario for me is ultimately Vilma's health, if he is even 95% of his 2009 self - then the Saints would be much better with him in the line-up than without him.

In any case, I don't believe for a second that Vilma's contract/salary status will be a deciding factor in the re-signing of Brees.

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno

mutineer10

Yeah, that's what had me puzzled. If Vilma's lawsuit fails & the suspension holds, does his contract count against the cap number? It's my understanding the suspension is without pay, so I can't see why it should.

Danno

The bonus portions do, the weekly salary doesn't.

FinSaint

I read up on this when the possibility of suspensions was initially mentioned and the current CBA states that like Danno said already, the base salary of a player suspended (due to a football related issue) doesn't count toward the overall salary cap, but the various bonuses of a suspended player do.

And in the case of someone like Smith, his base salary is divided into 16 (I don't know why not into 17 as there are 17 weeks in the regular season, doesn't he get payed for the bye week?) to get the base salary reduction for a single game - times 4 in the case of Smith. And this is where his re-negotiated contract really hurts the Saints financially, because his base salary now is something like 800K for the 2012 season, as most of his salary was converted into a signing bonus.

And in the case of someone like Vilma, because he'll be suspended because of a football related issue and not something he did in his civilian life (i.e. Michael Vick), the suspended year will count towards his overall contract, which it wouldn't in the other case. The franchise is ultimately responsible for football related issues, and that is why they are also "punished" by losing a contract year with the said player - while that may be a blessing in disguise in some situations.

While the suspension may be "without pay" it doesn't mean that his contract is out of the books. It simply means that the player loses his base salary (or some of it) as part of the punishment, but as bonuses are usually guaranteed (as is always with signing bonuses since those have already landed on the player's bank account), those will still count towards the salary cap even if the player is suspended "without pay."

"I'm not bashing people, I'm bashing their opinions because in my opinion their opinion is wrong" - Danno