A theory has emerged in recent days that the Cowboys, who signed defensive end Greg Hardy to a contract with a low base salary but plenty of other bells and whistles, can avoid the bulk of the payment by cutting him before the end of the season. With Hardy creating a constant stream of distractions for the team and with the team close to sliding out of contention, the Cowboys could be tempted to cut the cord and save plenty of cash.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, they wouldn’t avoid all that much.
In addition to a base salary of $573,529, Hardy makes a per-game roster bonus of $578,125. With four games played, he already has earned an extra $2.3125 million, which he’ll be paid whether he’s cut or not. And he’ll continue to earn the extra $578,125 per week, along with his base salary, at $33,737 per week.
Likewise, Hardy already has earned a workout bonus of $1.3116 million, which he gets regardless of whether he’s on the team for the rest of the season.
Ultimately, only one aspect of compensation hinges on Hardy being on the roster through the end of the regular season: His incentive payment for sacks.
At eight sacks, he gets $500,000. With two more, the total becomes $1 million. At 12 sacks, the total is $1.4 million. For 14, he gets a total of $1.8 million.
Hardy has four sacks through four games. If he keeps getting more and more sacks, there would be a potential savings from cutting him -- but only as to the incentive payment. He’d still get the workout bonus, the base salary for every week he’s on the team (plus the rest of the base salary as termination pay for the rest of the year, if he chooses to take it), and the $578,125 per week in which he’s on the 46-man game-day roster.