If Buccaneers cornerback Eric Wright is telling the truth that his four-game suspension is the result of merely taking Adderall for legitimate health reasons but failing to have the proper documentation, then those were some costly medical documents he overlooked.
As ESPN’s Adam Schefter pointed out, Wright will miss four game checks when he sits out the next four weeks, which at his base salary of $7.25 million translates to a loss of $1.7 million. And that’s just for starters.
Wright’s suspension also makes the guaranteed money that he is due next season null and void. That means that although Wright’s contract says his 2013 base salary of $7.75 million is guaranteed, the Bucs now have the right to release him after this season and owe him nothing going forward. If Wright were to lose his $7.75 million guaranteed next year on top of $1.7 million this year, that would be a total of $9.45 million he’d be losing.
Of course, if the Bucs were to cut Wright, he’d become an unrestricted free agent and would surely sign with some other team and recoup at least some of that $7.75 million he lost. Still, it’s entirely possible that Wright would find that no team is willing to pay him as much in free agency in 2013 as the Bucs were willing to pay him in free agency in 2012.
So Wright has to hope that the Bucs keep him around, and that his Adderall use costs him only (only?) $1.7 million.