After Panthers quarterback Cam Newton agreed to his 5-year, $103.8 million contract extension Tuesday, it was largely assumed the initially reported guarantee of $60 million wasn’t what it appeared. And as always, more accurate details about a big NFL contract are emerging in the hours after it was signed.
When these numbers first come out, they’re often a combination of actual guarantees — what a player receives at signing — with guarantees he’d get for injury only. Essentially, it’s a way to make deals look bigger than they are the moment they’re signed. But here are a couple of the finer, more important details of Newton’s extension:
The full guarantee is between $31-$44 million
First reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Newton will make $31 million in 2015: $22.5 million signing bonus + $7.5 roster bonus (due June 6) + $1 million base salary.
NFL Network’s Albert Breer on Wednesday tweeted that $31 million is the extent of the full guarantee, but there’s still an important unknown. If Newton’s 2016 salary ($13 million) was guaranteed the moment he signed, the full guarantee would equal $44 million. That’s a figure that makes a lot of sense, considering it would put Newton $2 million above Matt Ryan’s full guarantees, but below Aaron Rodgers’ at $54 million and the $50 million Sam Bradford got under the old CBA.
(UPDATE: June 3, 11:55 a.m.)
Thanks to Yash Shah for passing this along:
@BlackBlueReview On Cam's 2016 base - per @corryjoel, $13m is gtd for injury only at signing, but becomes fully gtd 3rd day of '16 league yr
— Yash Shah (@yshah2187) June 3, 2015
So Breer was spot on. When Newton signed Tuesday, he was fully guaranteed $31 million. The next $23 million isn’t guaranteed until 2016, which leads to Ian Rapoport’s point.
The NFL Network reporter threw in a “virtual” guarantee. It’s HIGHLY unlikely the Panthers will cut Newton next spring, so he’ll eventually get that $10 million option bonus and a $13 million salary. The “virtual” guarantee: $31 million in 2015 + $13 million salary in 2016 + $10 million option bonus in 2016 = $54 million.
The Panthers got a relatively cap-friendly deal
When you’re giving a guy by far and away the most money you’ve paid anyone, he’s going to take up plenty of cap space. But according to numbers obtained by Joel Corry of CBS Sports, this is a pretty nice spread for the Panthers:
- Newton’s cap hits
- 2015 — $13 million
- 2016 — $19.5 million
- 2017 — $20.17 million
- 2018 — $21.5 million
- 2019 — $23.2 million
- 2020 — $21.1 million
The biggest hit comes in 2019, and who knows where the league’s salary cap will be by then. Four years from now, $23.2 million could look a lot less imposing than it appears today, plus, a handful of quarterbacks will likely have eclipsed Newton’s extension.