A signing bonus, as the name suggests, is an upfront payment a player receives to sign his contract. When it comes to salary cap accounting rules, signing bonuses and P5 salaries are completely different. The amount a player gets to sign can be prorated or spread across the life of the contract (up to a... Continue Reading →
NFL Contracts Explained: Guaranteed Money
Brace yourself to hear the word guarantee(d) a lot in this section. It’s just what it is called, so it is what it is. Unlike NBA and MLB deals, NFL contracts are not guaranteed. However, some money in some contracts is fully guaranteed when a player puts pen to paper. Any signing bonus a player... Continue Reading →
NFL Contracts Explained: Paragraph 5 Salary
Surely, anyone who pays attention to ESPN or NFL Network coverage has heard the terms “base salary” or “game check.” In the NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement, this salary is referred to as Paragraph 5 (P5) Salary because its details are set forth in the fifth paragraph of the standard NFL player contract. A player’s P5... Continue Reading →
NFL Contracts Explained: Split Contracts
When a player is not on a team’s Active or Inactive List, the team can reduce that player’s salary due to his services being unavailable (i.e. on a team’s Injured Reserve list). Many young players, typically late-round draft picks, will sign what are referred to as Split Contracts to reduce the financial burden to teams... Continue Reading →
