lowering his base salary to 20m in 2023, would mean you are reducing the salary 26m. Dividing 26m / 4 (23/24/25/26) is 6.5 m
Add 6.5m to all years including 2023, thus that would reduce next years cap hit to 41.5 and increase 24/25/26 6.5m each (rinse and repeat)
and as RMC said, extensions will come in the later years so they can prorate to 4 years.
Sure, extensions/restructuring are done all the time. Making the contract fully guaranteed is another story and assuming all the risk is not a good business decision.
I never said it was. My point is people think they're stuck with these huge cap hits for the next few years and can't do anything about it.
The only thing that can't be prorated longer than the current contract term is bonuses, of which Watson doesn't currently have a lot of bonuses. Base salaries, no matter what year its for, can theoretically be mostly converted and prorated for up to 5 years, assuming you're willing to give the player extensions.
With franchise QBs playing at a high level, extensions are the norm. You anticipate those even when you sign the first deal. Ravens 100% knew the first 6 year deal they gave Flacco was basically a 3 year deal, that then required another extension. They basically admitted that the day they signed the original deal.
End of day, if the player sucks, the contracts going to be shit, and if he's good, the contract will be fine. I seriously doubt he's going to play like really well the next 2-3 years, then fall off a cliff, where the last year of his deal is garbage. You're going to know pretty quickly whether he's good or not. If he's not, you don't do the extension, and your team sucks for a year or two while you eat the dead money.
One other opinion of mine I'll say...I don't think Owners are scared of guaranteed contracts because of the salary cap. Frankly, half the time, I'm not sure Owners give a shit about the salary cap. It's got limitations, but most teams are smart enough to manipulate through it, and know that, end of day, they can defer if needed.
Owners are scared of guaranteed contracts because of cash flow. Cash flow is what actually goes to the financial statements of the company and what the IRS cares about. They don't want to have a highly diminishing or crippled asset who they have to pay tons and tons of money to. That's the risk.
Teams can make a shit load of bad salary cap moves, and absolve themselves of them within 12-18 months. Can just pile on dead money after dead money and just start from scratch after that. But cash is king. Once you commit to pay somebody, its a wrap.
