The Eagles have paid defensive tackle Fletcher Cox a lot of money. A lot of money. And a lot of that money will be fully guaranteed within only nine months.
Per a source with knowledge of the contract, a whopping $55.549 million will be fully guaranteed by March of 2017. At signing, $36.299 million in fully guaranteed.
The deal breaks down like this:
1. $26 million signing bonus;
2. $1.299 million fully-guaranteed base salary in 2016;
3. $6 million option bonus due in 2017, fully guaranteed;
4. $3 million fully-guaranteed base salary in 2017;
5. $11.5 million base salary for 2018, guaranteed for injury only at signing but fully guaranteed in March 2017;
6. $15.6 million base salary for 2019, $15.5 million of which is guaranteed for injury only at signing but $7.75 million becomes fully guaranteed in March 2017 and the other $7.75 million becomes fully guaranteed in March 2018;
7. $12.9 million base salary in 2020, plus a $1 million roster bonus due in March;
8. $15 million base salary in 2021, plus a $1 million roster bonus due in March;
9 $16.1 million base salary in 2022, plus a $1 million roster bonus due in March.
In all, it’s a six-year, $102.6 million extension, with a value at signing of $110.379 over seven years. $63.299 million is guaranteed for injury.
Given the structure of the deal, it will be virtually impossible for the Eagles to dump Cox before the guarantee fully vests. The cap charge for cutting him after one year would be $20.8 million, and the cap charge for cutting him after two years would be $20.4 million.
With Cox playing defensive tackle in the team’s new defense, Cox gets roughly $10 million more over the first three years than he would have gotten if he’s played out his rookie deal and been tagged for two straight seasons.
As noted earlier, this deal will make Broncos linebacker Von Miller very happy, giving him an apples-to-apples comparison that the Broncos will have a hard time characterizing as an anomaly or an aberration.