[ad_1]
On Monday, we ranked defensive tackle Nick Williams as one of the top winners of the Detroit Lions’ first week of free agency. With an inflated cap of $ 5.7 million and $ 4.7 million unsecured, he seemed like a prime candidate to release. When it became clear the Lions weren’t doing this, it was a big win for Williams, who had just 23 tackles and a sack last year.
But it turns out it wasn’t a huge win for Williams. By Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press, the veteran defensive tackle has agreed to take a big enough pay cut to stay with the team. Based on his Tweet from last week, he’s still pretty happy with it, but the move could cost him over $ 2.7 million in potential cash.
For the Lions, that saves them just over $ 2.68 million, which isn’t a ton of money, but every penny counts.
Here’s a look at how they did it, comparing old and new contracts.
Figures via OverTheCap
Old contract
Base salary: $ 4.1 million
Extension of the signature bonus: $ 1 million
Active List Bonus: $ 400,000 – $ 25,000 per game ($ 350,000 LTBE, $ 50,000 NLTBE)
Training bonus: $ 200,000
Hat trick: $ 5.65 million
Dead cap if cut: $ 1 million
New contract
Base salary: $ 1.25 million ($ 500,000 guaranteed)
Signature bonus + pro rata: $ 1.5M
Active List Bonus: $ 250,000 – $ 15,625 per game ($ 218,750 LTBE, $ 31,250 NLTBE)
NO WORKOUT BONUS
Hat trick: $ 2,968,750
Dead cap if cut: $ 2 million
So here’s a look at what has changed.
Base salary: Williams suffered a $ 2.85 million pay cut, but $ 500,000 is now guaranteed.
Signature bonus: The signing bonus of $ 1 million prorated to the previous contract is carried over. The Lions can’t get rid of it. Meanwhile, the Lions gave Williams an additional $ 500,000 signing bonus which he gets immediately for his troubles.
List bonus: Williams takes another cut here, dropping from $ 400,000 in potential bonuses to $ 250,000. Because he only played 14 games last year, only 14/16 in that count against the cap, reducing his number from $ 350,000 in “winnable” bonuses (LTBE) to $ 218,750. .
Training bonus: Williams will no longer receive a $ 200,000 practice bonus.
Hat trick: Increased from $ 5.65 million ($ 4.1 million salary + $ 1 million signing bonus + $ 550,000 LTBE bonus) to $ 2,968,750 ($ 1.25 million salary + 1.5 million dollars in signing bonus + 218,750 dollars in LTBE bonuses). Save $ 2,681,250 in ceiling space for Lions.
Dead cap if cut: Raises $ 1 million to $ 2 million in total. This is due to the additional signing bonus of $ 500,000 and the guaranteed salary of $ 500,000. That means the Lions would only get back $ 968,750 if they knocked out Williams ahead of the season.
What’s in it for Lions?
They keep Williams around, sparing them another hole in defense. And they’re adding almost $ 2.7 million in cap space – which could be one or two more players they can add in free agency.
What’s in there for Williams
He receives another $ 500,000 upfront, plus another $ 500,000 in guaranteed salary. With so little savings on the line now if the Lions end up cutting Williams, it gives him some roster security as well.
Given that the Lions had most of the leverage here – they could have just cut it and grabbed $ 4.65 million – Williams did well in mitigating the damage, putting a million dollars guaranteed. in his pocket and making sure he’ll probably be in a Lions Uniform for 2021.
[ad_2]
Source link