The issue would be getting the league to approve. Contracts dealing with cap avoidance have been shot down recently. I know of two sign and trade type deals that were denied for those reasons in the past year or so.

Looking a little further I am not sure guarantees can even be converted to NLTBE as it is an incentive rather than a bonus.

"NFL contracts can have incentives that can give the player money if the player hits certain thresholds set in the contract. There are two types of incentives: Likely to be earned (LTBE) and Not likely to be earned (NLTBE). Incentives are classified as LTBE or NLTBE based on what the player did in the previous season in relation to the incentive. If a player would have earned the incentive in the previous year, the incentive is considered LTBE and the opposite is true for NLTBE. LTBE incentives count against the current year’s cap space for the team while NLTBE incentives are charged against the following year’s cap space. Some examples of incentives would be making the Pro Bowl, catching a certain amount of receptions, or based on playing time."

According to this it appears that even if allowed somehow the amount would still hit the cap the following year with NLTBE.

Read a little more than you quote and you'll see that LTBE that are charged against the cap but not earned are credited to the following years cap, and NLTBE that are not earned are not charged to any cap.

Guido an incentive is a bonus, not sure how you differentiate between the two words other than spelling..

This is not a trade, you are ignoring context and context matters.

It doesn't matter if it is a trade or not. The league still has to approve of ALL contracts. Brees has already received the cash for those guarantees remaining on his current contract. What I was trying to point out is that even if there was some sort of way to convert the guarantees which were the result of signing bonuses into some sort of incentive (which I still believe couldn't be done), then the league would surely disallow the contract. The sign and trade scenarios were just examples of cap manipulative contracts denied by the league.

I repeat, Brees has already cashed those checks. The remaining guarantees are the accounting offsets for the payments already received. There's no way the league would allow them to just go away.

The only way to make those guarantees leave the books would be if Brees paid the Saints back $22.5 million in cash. If that would even be allowed I can't see that happening either.

Prove he cashed those checks, show the check with the deposit receipt, or have a seat.

Only $25M was guaranteed and the remaining $25M is 2021 money not guaranteed and uncashed as a check.

The $22.65 million is signing bonus already paid and has to be accounted for. That's the dead money we are talking about. Are you confusing the $25 million in base salary contracted for 2021? That CAN be restructured IF he returns and plays. If not it isn't on the books at all.

Drew Brees Spotrac

You are correct in that only $25 million of the contract signed in 2020 was guaranteed, but you are omitting the $4.25M of salary and an $11.95M roster bonus converted into a signing bonus in 2019 and prorated out, a portion of which is still included in the dead money.

It’s $23.65 and has already been accounted for in the 2020 Cap hit because that’s when it was paid out... know what... phuck it, you are a mess to talk to.
Believe what you wish.

The $22.65 million is signing bonus already paid and has to be accounted for. That's the dead money we are talking about. Are you confusing the $25 million in base salary contracted for 2021? That CAN be restructured IF he returns and plays. If not it isn't on the books at all.

Drew Brees Spotrac

You are correct in that only $25 million of the contract signed in 2020 was guaranteed, but you are omitting the $4.25M of salary and an $11.95M roster bonus converted into a signing bonus in 2019 and prorated out, a portion of which is still included in the dead money.