Although it’s been reported as the new market deal for NFL centers, Pouncey’s deal really is team friendly. I hope the Steelers do more deals like this one going forward and fewer like Woodley’s, which married him to the team for at least three years. Alex Mack gets $26M guaranteed (all paid in the first three years), Pouncey gets $14M guaranteed, but will earn $26.5M in the first three years, if he performs well and the team keeps him. Pouncey is betting on himself.
Basically, the Steelers exchanged a higher average salary and a potential for greater money in the first three years of the deal, compared to Mack’s deal, in exchange for numbers that can be managed in the team’s favor. The team can convert his 2015 or 2016 roster bonuses to signing bonuses, if they need cap space; or if they need to, they can release him as soon as next season and face a manageable cap penalty by utilizing the post-June 1 designation.
I love boobs. Heck, who doesn’t. But let’s talk contracts. Specifically, let’s talk Kaepernick’s contract.
When the numbers were announced it looked as though this contract, in particular the guaranteed money, would impact the Roethlisberger negotiations. But, what are the practical guarantees of the deal? What do the 49ers actually have to pay Kaepernick? The answer: $12.973M, not the $61M that was reported. His signing bonus and 2014 salary are the only dollars fully guaranteed. The balance of his “guarantees” are base salaries for 2015, 2016, 2017 and $5.2M of his 2018 salary. But, and this is key, those guarantees are only guaranteed for injury, not skill.
Each April 1 Kaepernick’s salary for the following year becomes fully guaranteed. Free agency usually begins the second Tuesday in March. So, the 49ers can take a look at their options for a couple of weeks and simply cut Kaepernick at any time, thus creating cap room in any year. To say this is team friendly is a huge understatement. This is the kind of deal we need to get with Jason Worilds.
Kaepernick also gets $2.4M per year in workout/roster bonuses if he’s on the team. That is quite substantial, even for a QB. But, the contract requires him to, with his own after tax dollars, purchase an insurance policy that pays the 49ers $20M in the event that he has a career ending injury.
The Steelers should be so lucky as to get Ben to sign a deal like this one.
