I wonder what he means by ''you people''
Heres the explanation good luck
Dead Money
This is the “pay later” portion of the equation. Dead money is your unused prorated money. Going back to the car example- unfortunately you find out that your car is a lemon just three years into owning it. The transmission died. The car leaks every fluid under the sun. Every other week it breaks down on your way to work. You have no option but to junk it. Does the bank just forgive the remaining two years of your auto loan? Nope. If you still owe $7,000 on the car you have to pay the bank $7,000 when you give that car up. That’s exactly what happens in the NFL. In essence you owe the salary cap money like you would the bank.
In the example where we had a 6 year contract with a signing and an option bonus that money you owe the cap is huge if you need to “junk” the player. If you want to cut the player in 2015 it’s a charge of $5 million per year from 2015 thru 2017 and an additional $1 million in 2018. In the NFL you get that money all charged at once so it’s a lump sum payment of $16 million in cap dollars for a player not even on the team. In 2016 its $11 million, 2017 its $6 million and in 2018 it would be $1 million.
That’s why signing bonus money gives the player far more financial security than just the lump sum payment. It offers an extra layer of protection from being cut due to the cap costs being so high to the team. Better to pay the player a few million to stick around and eat up $8 million in cap space than not be here and cost me $16 million. That’s why when we talk about restructuring contracts for the sake of salary cap room in this year we always have to have an eye on the future. Its why for players like David Harris and Nick Mangold who have had two down years in a row you don’t want to push too far in the future. You also need to see what it means for future cap. In Mangold’s case he has a gigantic salary cap number already in 2015. Push too much money from 2013 into the future and you are stuck with no more room to renegotiate in 2015 unless you just want to remain tied to someone that may be trending down. Just getting under the cap is easy, managing the future is not and GMs and cap managers spend tons of time going over those possibilities when they have to use prorated money for salary cap purposes
The only other issue in regards to dead money from the prorated bonus is the timing of the release or trade of the player. It if occurs after June 1 the league will only allow you to take a dead cap hit of the prorated money from that particular season, meaning $5 million in the example above. The balance is then charged to the following year, in the example $11 million in 2016. You can also designate a player a June 1 cut prior to June 1. In this case you will maintain the full cap charge for the player, even though he has been released, until June 1 at which point just the prorated money for the year remains with the balance being charged to the following league year. This is done to allow you to avoid guarantees or roster and workout bonus money that you might be obligated to pay if the player actually remains on the roster until June 1. But in terms of helping with free agency it really does not give you any benefit due to the benefit coming long after players are signed.
