The weekend is the time when things slow down and I can go back and clean up the periodic messes I make between Monday and Friday.
When deciphering the mechanics of Mike Vick’s new contract with the Eagles, I originally believed that the three-year deal voids to one year early in the 2013 league year in order to nudge cap dollars into 2014, both from the $3.5 million signing bonus and the remnants of the signing bonus Vick received in 2011.
In reality, the voiding of the contract to a one-year deal will push the bonus dollars into 2013.
This means that, once the final two years of the contract go away, $2.333 million from the new signing bonus will hit the 2013 cap, along with $2.8 million in lingering bonus allocation from his prior deal.
Thus, while the cap hit for now is only $7.066 million, it soon will jump by $5.133 million to $12.2 million. This means that the new deal ultimately will save only $4.7 million in 2013 cap space, since Vick’s 2013 cap number under the prior deal was due to be $16.9 million.
The convoluted three-year-down-to-one-year device was needed because the Eagles already had carried over all remaining 2012 cap space. Thus, they had no way to absorb the bonus acceleration before the start of the new league year on March 12.