What happens if a player under contract meets incentives within the contract in a given year? For example, if CP is under contract at $1M this season, with $2M in incentives, what happens if he hits the incentives and the entire $3M hits the cap? Do the Jets have to assume at the beginning of the season that the incentives will be met, and therefore count the $3m as the cap hit, or do the incentives ($2M) count against the following years cap?
There is a clause of incentives likely to be earned which do count towards the cap and if they are not earned i think they are subtracted from the next years total. This is how the Vikings were able to trade Moss and swallow the 7 million cap hit or whatever it was.
In a USUAL contract year, there are 2 types of incentives... Likely to be earned (count in the current year) and unlikely to be earned (count the next season). A lot of teams use that loophole by giving players Likely to earn incentives that really are not likely. If they have cap room in the current year, they give the player on of these to eat up say 3M. He doesn't hit the incentives, and in the following year, they get a 3M credit. NOW on to this year. It's NOT a usual year. Its the year prior to the UNCAPPED YEAR. ALL INCENTIVES will count in the current year. This is specifically outlined in the CBA. There are no "unlikely to be earned" incentives the year before the uncapped year.
That's interesting. That means, for salary cap purposes only, it makes no difference if the Jets offer CP 1)$3M in base or 2)$1M in base plus $2M in incentives. For cash flow purposes, obviously, it does make a difference. Thanks for the info.
well it does matter... The Jets do not need to account for the incentives in the cap until they happen. In a normal year, with a new CBA, then there would be a big benefit to incentives.
