The-Hogs.net - Washington Football Discussion, Redskins to Commanders Era

When two teams negotiate a trade involving players under contract that aren't FAs: Do they simply trade players, contracts, and present/future cap charges?....Or can the teams negotiate 'who pays what' on the players involved?

contracts remain in effect. the players old club absorbs the remainder of any signing bonus, while the new team only pays the base salary of the players remaining contract. once you have the rights to a player, you can extend or renegotiate their deal to be a little more cap friendly. roster bonuses and things like that carry over to the new team. say you trade for a guy who had a signing bonus of 5 mil, a five year contract with a base salary of 5 mil, or 1 mil a year to make it simple, then a roster bonus of two mil due a march 1st of the fouth year. thats a total contract of 12 mil for 5 years. lets say you get this guy after the second year is up. the old team has paid a 5 mil SB, and 2 mil in salary. it cost the old team the remaining 3 mil of the signing bonus which they originally gave the player.the old club will have 3 mil in "dead cap money" from the old player.
the new team takes over the remaining salary of 1 mil a year for three years, plus they have to pay that roster bonus march 1 of the players fourth season.
basically, any signing bonus of "lump sum" already paid, goes to the old clubs cap, any money not yet paid or due to the player at the time of the trade, is the new club's responsibility.... did this help or did i confuse you more?

Thanks T6..that makes sense.

So, in the case of Brunell: He's got a cap hit of 10+ mil this year. The team that trades for him negotiates a new contract that determines the new cap charges for that team and the Jaguars are responsible for whatever they have already paid him....right?

yep, but until they do, the Redskins would be on the hook for his current contract, which I believe has a $2 mil SB and $8.5 mil salary.

So the Jags would eat the 2 and the Skins the 8.5... technically.

But in reality, renegotiated contracts are usually pretty much agreed to before deals are even made.

Good job on the explanation HS.