Traveler
02-21-2008, 08:37 AM
Should answer concerns about Javon Walker's contract and salary cap ramifications.
February 20, 2008
Working the what-ifs
The pre-combine Inbox is open for business. With the best draft hopefuls in Indy, the offseason is in full swing.
With that, off we go . . .
Anthony Marshall in Atlanta gets a pre-combine Inbox off with one sent on by a few others in recent weeks . . .
Q: What exactly are the cap ramifications if the Broncos cut Javon Walker? I've also heard there is some type of "poison pill" clause in the contract. Would you find out how much would the team have to pay him if he is cut outright and how much he'll get because of the clause?
A: By cap rules, to release Walker it would escalate remaining bonus calculations on the remainder of the contract to this year's salary cap – about $8 million worth of cap space.
His cap figure for '08, under his current deal, is scheduled to be $7.05 million. That's not that big of a difference on the bookkeeping side.
That cap hit is so big because releasing a player far closer to the beginning of the deal than to the end will always have a bigger impact on the cap. And Walker, if an option year is exercised, next month, has a deal that could run through 2011 – four more seasons.
And with that kind of cap hit and the Broncos, in the form of owner Pat Bowlen, having already said cash and cap management is an issue right now, a team would have to be very committed to the idea of releasing a player who was a 1,000-yard receiver in '06.
It would not be quality cap management to sign a player to a deal as big as the one Walker got and release him two years later. And Bowlen has talked a great deal, since season's end, about how teams have to effectively manage both their cap space and cash to make it into the Super Bowl mix.
He had the majority of the team's impact plays on offense that season. Last season his knee was a problem and heading into the upcoming season that will certainly be the question mark that follows him until he shows he is healthy.
That knee and his contract's current format make him difficult to trade as well. The contract does include a cash payment to Walker – some I know in the league have said it's more than $1 million and could even approach $2 million – if the Broncos don't exercise a $3.4 million portion of the $5.4 million worth of bonuses he's due in the first week of March
So, status quo means the Broncos would pay him a $3.4 million option bonus, and he would get a $2 million roster bonus as well in the first week of March.
To keep him and not exercise the option year of the deal (2011) with the option bonus would cost them cash payments of a $2 million roster bonus and what could then be as much as a $2 million "non-exercise'' fee. So it's pretty close to even there.
To release him saves them the immediate cash out of their pocket, but they instantly lose $8 million worth of cap space. They could release him after June 1 to spread that out over two years, but they will have already paid him the cash under the current deal.
They could try to trade him, but teams are going to want to look at that knee, and because contracts go with the player in a trade, few teams I've just tossed it out to over the last few weeks are going to be willing to take the deal with Walker under that scenario.
Sure, the Broncos weren't thrilled Walker kept alluding, following the season, to the idea he wanted out if he couldn't be used more in the offense. Just like they weren't thrilled he publicly demanded the ball more during the season on the day before he left for Houston for knee surgery.
But Walker has tried to mend the fences some. The Broncos would certainly like him to re-do the deal, but it's difficult to get anyone in any job to surrender money that has already been negotiated.
The Broncos could try to make it an incentive-driven deal, but Walker's representatives are going to know that Brandon Marshall looks like Jay Cutler's No. 1 receiver – the two have already worked out together extensively – so any "lead the team'' clauses are going to be a risk from their point of view.
And yet if they do want to trade him – and there hasn't been much buzz about that among the general managers I've spoken with around the league – they could tell Walker it would be easier to move him if he reworked his deal.
So, a complicated affair to be sure. There are many inside the team who say history has shown the team can have two 1,000-yard receivers and a quality running game, so there would be room for Walker and Marshall to co-exist in the offense.
The bigger issue in terms of releasing him would be what happens after.
The Broncos, from Shanahan on down, do not want Brandon Stokley to have to be an every-down receiver on the outside because of his age and injury history. They believe Stokley's impact will be greatest if he is a spot player in the slot.
His body wore down last season filling in for the injured Walker and Rod Smith on the outside, and they believe he missed time down the stretch with a knee injury because of it. That only serves as more incentive, to them, to watch his playing time more carefully in '08 if they have that luxury.
Releasing Walker would leave a significant hole in the depth chart that may cost plenty to fill in free agency, even more than keeping him does – the cost of not only the cap hit of releasing a player with up to four years left on his deal, but also the hefty expense of signing a good enough player to replace him.
Suddenly that roster spot goes from an $8 million cap hit to a $13 million cap hit to sign a good enough player in a high-priced market to replace him.
Receiver is also not routinely a position that offers immediate help in the draft – those players often take longer to integrate, on average, into an offense. Guys, even the elite, struggle to get open, struggle with defensive backs who are routinely stronger and often just as fast.
Each year, the production of the rookie receiver classes, as a whole, are routinely below the expectations brought on by their draft position. Only a handful of guys have been 1,000-yard receivers as rookies over the last two decades.
And in the last 22 seasons a wide receiver has been the league's offensive rookie of the year just three times – Carl Pickens, Randy Moss and Anquan Boldin. Over that same span running backs have won the award 16 times.
That's the difference between immediate impact and not immediate impact.
That's also why even considering releasing Walker with his current deal is such a difficult idea for the Broncos. Nothing is ever totally off the board in the Shanahan regime, but it's a difficult proposition to simply cut him.
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/broncos/archives/2008/02/working_the_wha.html#more
February 20, 2008
Working the what-ifs
The pre-combine Inbox is open for business. With the best draft hopefuls in Indy, the offseason is in full swing.
With that, off we go . . .
Anthony Marshall in Atlanta gets a pre-combine Inbox off with one sent on by a few others in recent weeks . . .
Q: What exactly are the cap ramifications if the Broncos cut Javon Walker? I've also heard there is some type of "poison pill" clause in the contract. Would you find out how much would the team have to pay him if he is cut outright and how much he'll get because of the clause?
A: By cap rules, to release Walker it would escalate remaining bonus calculations on the remainder of the contract to this year's salary cap – about $8 million worth of cap space.
His cap figure for '08, under his current deal, is scheduled to be $7.05 million. That's not that big of a difference on the bookkeeping side.
That cap hit is so big because releasing a player far closer to the beginning of the deal than to the end will always have a bigger impact on the cap. And Walker, if an option year is exercised, next month, has a deal that could run through 2011 – four more seasons.
And with that kind of cap hit and the Broncos, in the form of owner Pat Bowlen, having already said cash and cap management is an issue right now, a team would have to be very committed to the idea of releasing a player who was a 1,000-yard receiver in '06.
It would not be quality cap management to sign a player to a deal as big as the one Walker got and release him two years later. And Bowlen has talked a great deal, since season's end, about how teams have to effectively manage both their cap space and cash to make it into the Super Bowl mix.
He had the majority of the team's impact plays on offense that season. Last season his knee was a problem and heading into the upcoming season that will certainly be the question mark that follows him until he shows he is healthy.
That knee and his contract's current format make him difficult to trade as well. The contract does include a cash payment to Walker – some I know in the league have said it's more than $1 million and could even approach $2 million – if the Broncos don't exercise a $3.4 million portion of the $5.4 million worth of bonuses he's due in the first week of March
So, status quo means the Broncos would pay him a $3.4 million option bonus, and he would get a $2 million roster bonus as well in the first week of March.
To keep him and not exercise the option year of the deal (2011) with the option bonus would cost them cash payments of a $2 million roster bonus and what could then be as much as a $2 million "non-exercise'' fee. So it's pretty close to even there.
To release him saves them the immediate cash out of their pocket, but they instantly lose $8 million worth of cap space. They could release him after June 1 to spread that out over two years, but they will have already paid him the cash under the current deal.
They could try to trade him, but teams are going to want to look at that knee, and because contracts go with the player in a trade, few teams I've just tossed it out to over the last few weeks are going to be willing to take the deal with Walker under that scenario.
Sure, the Broncos weren't thrilled Walker kept alluding, following the season, to the idea he wanted out if he couldn't be used more in the offense. Just like they weren't thrilled he publicly demanded the ball more during the season on the day before he left for Houston for knee surgery.
But Walker has tried to mend the fences some. The Broncos would certainly like him to re-do the deal, but it's difficult to get anyone in any job to surrender money that has already been negotiated.
The Broncos could try to make it an incentive-driven deal, but Walker's representatives are going to know that Brandon Marshall looks like Jay Cutler's No. 1 receiver – the two have already worked out together extensively – so any "lead the team'' clauses are going to be a risk from their point of view.
And yet if they do want to trade him – and there hasn't been much buzz about that among the general managers I've spoken with around the league – they could tell Walker it would be easier to move him if he reworked his deal.
So, a complicated affair to be sure. There are many inside the team who say history has shown the team can have two 1,000-yard receivers and a quality running game, so there would be room for Walker and Marshall to co-exist in the offense.
The bigger issue in terms of releasing him would be what happens after.
The Broncos, from Shanahan on down, do not want Brandon Stokley to have to be an every-down receiver on the outside because of his age and injury history. They believe Stokley's impact will be greatest if he is a spot player in the slot.
His body wore down last season filling in for the injured Walker and Rod Smith on the outside, and they believe he missed time down the stretch with a knee injury because of it. That only serves as more incentive, to them, to watch his playing time more carefully in '08 if they have that luxury.
Releasing Walker would leave a significant hole in the depth chart that may cost plenty to fill in free agency, even more than keeping him does – the cost of not only the cap hit of releasing a player with up to four years left on his deal, but also the hefty expense of signing a good enough player to replace him.
Suddenly that roster spot goes from an $8 million cap hit to a $13 million cap hit to sign a good enough player in a high-priced market to replace him.
Receiver is also not routinely a position that offers immediate help in the draft – those players often take longer to integrate, on average, into an offense. Guys, even the elite, struggle to get open, struggle with defensive backs who are routinely stronger and often just as fast.
Each year, the production of the rookie receiver classes, as a whole, are routinely below the expectations brought on by their draft position. Only a handful of guys have been 1,000-yard receivers as rookies over the last two decades.
And in the last 22 seasons a wide receiver has been the league's offensive rookie of the year just three times – Carl Pickens, Randy Moss and Anquan Boldin. Over that same span running backs have won the award 16 times.
That's the difference between immediate impact and not immediate impact.
That's also why even considering releasing Walker with his current deal is such a difficult idea for the Broncos. Nothing is ever totally off the board in the Shanahan regime, but it's a difficult proposition to simply cut him.
http://blogs.rockymountainnews.com/denver/broncos/archives/2008/02/working_the_wha.html#more