73 replies to this topic

[Mackus]

Surprised he got so much more guaranteed than both Foster and McCoy. $24M is a pretty big step up from $20M.

Really happy for Ray. A big contract couldn't happen to a better guy. He is absolutely the exact type of player that you just love to root for. Everything else aside, I'm thrilled that he got his deal.

Not 100% sure that this is a great move for the Ravens financially, just paying him the franchise fee the next two years seems like it would have been a really good way to go, but they are much smarter than me so I'll defer.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Surprised he got so much more guaranteed than both Foster and McCoy. $24M is a pretty big step up from $20M.

Really happy for Ray. A big contract couldn't happen to a better guy. He is absolutely the exact type of player that you just love to root for. Everything else aside, I'm thrilled that he got his deal.

Not 100% sure that this is a great move for the Ravens financially, just paying him the franchise fee the next two years seems like it would have been a really good way to go, but they are much smarter than me so I'll defer.

I think that would have been more favorably financially speaking, but the Ravens have proven time and time again that they're a "family" type organization. They don't make overly stupid decisions because of that, but sometimes they do be a little more generous to keep everyone happy. It would have been messy, and IMO, undoubtedly would have messed with Rice's production if we were to go that route (and basically stick it to him, despite a nice salary under the franchise tag), and have him hold out and miss the next two training camps. For an offense that still needs to improve, that's just not something we could afford.

[Nuclear Dish]

The real question is whether Rice will pull a Chris Johnson (terrible year immediately after getting paid) or an Adrian Peterson (catastrophic injury immediately after getting paid), or whether he'll continue to be his typical self.

I think we can be confident he won't pull a Johnson, as he's not a holdout missing pre-season. He'll be in camp on time and be ready for the season.

[SportsGuy]

According to Aaron Wilson, the Ravens are now about 4 million under the cap.

[Chris B]

According to Aaron Wilson, the Ravens are now about 4 million under the cap.

Given that, is there anyone they could go after?

[SportsGuy]

Given that, is there anyone they could go after?

Plaxico!

I imagine they add someone(s) who get cut in camp.

[bnickle]

Save it in case we have an injury or a need to chase an upgrade during TC ala McKinnie last year. I know McKinnie took some flack but I still liked the move to bring him in moving Oher back to the right side last year. I think that made the Oline better than it would have been otherwise.

[You Play to Win the Game]

Some very good information from this write up by Brian McFarland of Ravens 24x7:

If Rice fails to live up to the expectations or is injured, the team will face serious Salary Cap ramifications because so much of his contract is tied up in the $15M Signing Bonus and $7M Option Bonus. Those amounts account for close to 63% of total base value of the deal. That is an incredibly high ratio of bonus money versus total contract value. Because those amounts are going to be prorated over the life of the deal, if Rice fails to perform as expected, the team will either be forced to keep him, despite having to overpay him, or release him and possibly incur a huge amount of dead money against the Cap.

For instance, in 2015, Rice is set to have a Cap number of $7.75M. If Rice is not meeting expectations at that point, the team could release him, but it would cost $9.5M in dead money against the Cap. That would mean that the team would take on an additional Cap charge of $1.75M over what Rice was already slated to count against the Cap. That would be an unprecedented amount of dead money to have to account for.

So, the Ravens, in order to get Rice’s future with the team secured, are definitely gambling that Rice will continue to play at a high level for all 5 years of the contract. If not, the upfront money that they’ve agreed to give Rice will really come back to haunt them.

http://www.ravens24x... ... s.facebook

[SportsGuy]

Some very good information from this write up by Brian McFarland of Ravens 24x7:



http://www.ravens24x... ... s.facebook

Ouch, I don't like this.

[Pedro Cerrano]

I'm very confused. Why are the Ravens only taking a $5 million cap hit this year and $7.75 million over the last two years?

[SportsGuy]

I'm very confused. Why are the Ravens only taking a $5 million cap hit this year and $7.75 million over the last two years?

Must be because of how the bonus is spread out.

[Pedro Cerrano]

So we can pay him $15 million this year but have it count against the cap in subsequent years? That seems odd...

[You Play to Win the Game]

So we can pay him $15 million this year but have it count against the cap in subsequent years? That seems odd...

It's pro-rated, and we are able to assign #'s to different years. Not only did Rice get a favorable contract in terms of overall $$, he also got a very favorable deal in terms of how it ended up being structured. Rice gets paid up front, and if his career tails off in 2-3 years, we really can't cut him because we'd take a $9.5MM dead money hit. If he continues to play well, he can throw a hissy fit (although he doesn't seem like the type) and demand a restructure of his contract in the later years because he'll "only" be making a base of 4/3/3 in the final 3 years of his contract.

The more this sinks in, the less I like it. The saving grace is Rice isn't a prima donna. He won't falter because of lack of effort or focus, he will because of an injury or because he loses a step. This might be a mistake, but at least it would be for a good person. The other benefit to this deal is in the very immediate future. The fact that this team is constructed to win now. Because of that, this eliminates a very serious distraction this training camp, and next because now he won't be holding out, getting into the offensive game plan late in the pre-season, etc.

Overall, I'd give this whole situation a "thumbs up" for the Ravens (only because of the bottom line that we NEED Rice this year), but if I put it out there in a grade, I'd have to say this is around a C-.

[Mackus]

So we can pay him $15 million this year but have it count against the cap in subsequent years? That seems odd...

Bonuses are spread over the life of the deal. So the $15M signing bonus counts for a $3M cap hit in each of 2012, '13, '14, '15, and '16. The $7M option bonus counts for a $1.75M cap hit in each of '13, '14, '15, and '16. Then his base salaries for each year are $2M, $1M, $4M, $3M, and $3M.

Also, they are willing to move more of the cap hit towards the end of the deal because the salary cap will be dramatically increased starting in (I believe) 2014 as per the new CBA. If they have to cut him, the cap hit will be all of the remaining bonus money hit for the remaining years(but none of the base salary). So if they cut him after 2014, then they'll have $9.5M in dead money count against the cap. If they cut him after 2015, they'll have $4.75M count against the cap that year. If they wait until after June 1 of either year to cut him, then I think they can spread that cap hit over two years (which they likely would do if they cut him after year 3, maybe not if they cut him after year 4).

It's definitely a lot of money against the cap for the last 3 years, even if they cut him and don't have to pay the base salaries. But, the cap should be much higher, so it won't be as bad as it would be in the current cap scenario.