Brandon Browner contact details
ESPN Boston Patriots beat writers Mike Reiss and Field Yates today reported on the specific terms of newly acquired cornerback Brandon Browner.
The contract is unique and also reflects that the Patriots made sure to protect themselves financially with Browner, who will be suspended for the first four games of the 2014 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Here is the contract breakdown, from Reiss and Yates:
Total value: $12.35 million
Maximum value: $16.8 million
Signing bonus: $0
2014
Base: $1 million (guaranteed)
Offseason workout bonus: $250,000
Roster bonus: $500,000 for making the 53-man roster at any point during the season (just has to be on it for one day and he sees this)
Second roster bonus: $150,000 per game he's on the 46-man roster
Playtime incentives: Up to $1.25 million
2015
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (90-man roster at start of league year)
Second roster bonus: $100,000 per game he’s on the 46-man roster
Playtime incentives: Up to $500,000 ($250k for 75 percent playing time; another $250k for 85 percent playing time)
2016
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (90-man roster at start of league year)
Second roster bonus: $100,000 per game he’s on the 46…
Playtime incentives: Up to $500,000 ($250k for 75 percent playing time; another $250k for 85 percent playing time)
What makes this contract extremely team-friendly is the fact that only $1 million of the contract's potential total of $17 million is guaranteed to Browner. The rest he will have to earn based on his participation in the off-season program along with his time and performance on the field.
This is a great contract structure for a player who could be perceived as a risky signing, given his history of trouble with the league. The move, like the Darrelle Revis signing, is low-risk financially for the Patriots, and offers them the option to part ways with the player should things not pan out as planned with minimal salary cap repercussions.
While the team has opened their wallets a bit more than usual this offseason, they have not totally parted ways with their philosophy of not overextending themselves for any one player. While they will be paying Revis the highest salary for a cornerback for the upcoming season, he is also the best player at that position, and a future Hall of Famer. Furthermore, the secondary is an area the team has struggled immensely in recent years.
The Browner contact also is unique in the fact that the player will receive no signing bonus, a developing trend that the Boston Globe's Ben Volin discussed in an article posted yesterday. Volin pointed to the Buccaneers as an example of this emerging trend in contract structure. Tampa paid three players (Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins, and Alterraun Verner) a total of $99.25 million in contracts, but these players will receive zero money in the form of bonuses. This gives Tampa the flexibility to cut ties with the players after each season without having to absorb dead money.
Volin goes on to discuss that while the Patriots are often perceived as one of the more fiscally responsible teams in the NFL, in recent years they have put themselves in difficult positions as a result of giving money to players in advance of on-field performance, and have accrued a significant amount of dead money from players who have not panned out (most of this is from Aaron Hernandez):
Signing Browner and not giving him any money up front is a smart choice for the Patriots because it forces Browner to earn every dollar of his contract. The fact that such a small portion of his potential contact is guaranteed reflects the fact that the team does have some concerns about Browner's issues with the league, and are taking steps to ensure they don't get burned should things not work out.
@LiamPCunningham
@PatriotsLife
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| (Getty Images) |
The contract is unique and also reflects that the Patriots made sure to protect themselves financially with Browner, who will be suspended for the first four games of the 2014 season for violating the league's substance abuse policy. Here is the contract breakdown, from Reiss and Yates:
Total value: $12.35 million
Maximum value: $16.8 million
Signing bonus: $0
2014
Base: $1 million (guaranteed)
Offseason workout bonus: $250,000
Roster bonus: $500,000 for making the 53-man roster at any point during the season (just has to be on it for one day and he sees this)
Second roster bonus: $150,000 per game he's on the 46-man roster
Playtime incentives: Up to $1.25 million
2015
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (90-man roster at start of league year)
Second roster bonus: $100,000 per game he’s on the 46-man roster
Playtime incentives: Up to $500,000 ($250k for 75 percent playing time; another $250k for 85 percent playing time)
2016
Base: $1.9 million
Roster bonus: $2 million (90-man roster at start of league year)
Second roster bonus: $100,000 per game he’s on the 46…
Playtime incentives: Up to $500,000 ($250k for 75 percent playing time; another $250k for 85 percent playing time)
What makes this contract extremely team-friendly is the fact that only $1 million of the contract's potential total of $17 million is guaranteed to Browner. The rest he will have to earn based on his participation in the off-season program along with his time and performance on the field.
This is a great contract structure for a player who could be perceived as a risky signing, given his history of trouble with the league. The move, like the Darrelle Revis signing, is low-risk financially for the Patriots, and offers them the option to part ways with the player should things not pan out as planned with minimal salary cap repercussions.
While the team has opened their wallets a bit more than usual this offseason, they have not totally parted ways with their philosophy of not overextending themselves for any one player. While they will be paying Revis the highest salary for a cornerback for the upcoming season, he is also the best player at that position, and a future Hall of Famer. Furthermore, the secondary is an area the team has struggled immensely in recent years.
The Browner contact also is unique in the fact that the player will receive no signing bonus, a developing trend that the Boston Globe's Ben Volin discussed in an article posted yesterday. Volin pointed to the Buccaneers as an example of this emerging trend in contract structure. Tampa paid three players (Michael Johnson, Anthony Collins, and Alterraun Verner) a total of $99.25 million in contracts, but these players will receive zero money in the form of bonuses. This gives Tampa the flexibility to cut ties with the players after each season without having to absorb dead money.
Volin goes on to discuss that while the Patriots are often perceived as one of the more fiscally responsible teams in the NFL, in recent years they have put themselves in difficult positions as a result of giving money to players in advance of on-field performance, and have accrued a significant amount of dead money from players who have not panned out (most of this is from Aaron Hernandez):
Compare that to the Patriots, who have been liberal with their use of signing bonuses and are one of the worst offenders of sacrificing future dollars for today. Tom Brady got a $30 million bonus in 2013 to be spread over five years, and players including Kyle Arrington, Danny Amendola, Rob Gronkowski, Sebastian Vollmer, and Rob Ninkovich all cost more against the salary cap if they are cut instead of kept on the roster.
The website overthecap.com, which has detailed records of every NFL contract, has an invaluable chart that ranks all 32 teams based on their cash-to-cap ratio.
And while the Patriots love to stress “market value” and prudence in free agency, they actually have the lowest cash-to-cap ratio in the league — they have spent $76 million in real dollars to produce $118 million in salary cap dollars, or 64.5 percent. By comparison, 11 teams are over 90 percent, and five teams are within 98 percent.
The Patriots are also eighth in the NFL in “dead money” for 2014 — money that counts against the cap even if a player is cut — at $10.385 million. To be fair, $7.5 million is due to Aaron Hernandez, and the Patriots may ultimately get some or all of that cap space back.
Signing Browner and not giving him any money up front is a smart choice for the Patriots because it forces Browner to earn every dollar of his contract. The fact that such a small portion of his potential contact is guaranteed reflects the fact that the team does have some concerns about Browner's issues with the league, and are taking steps to ensure they don't get burned should things not work out.
@LiamPCunningham
@PatriotsLife
