Agent’s Take: Aaron Rodgers, Joe Mixon among 15 players who could be on new teams via trade, as cap casualty

Off-season roster cleanups are an annual occurrence in the NFL. Players are often fired when salaries are deemed not to match performance.

Trading can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a Pro Bowl player wants a change of scenery. The new regime may try to move high-value veterans who are not suitable for this scheme.

In most cases, when a player is traded, fired, or fired, a residual salary cap will be charged. This marginal fee for a player who is no longer on the team is commonly referred to as dead money. It exists because the remaining proportion of salary components that are treated as a signing bonus is immediately increased to his team’s current salary cap on trade, termination, or retirement. Dead money is usually a sunk cost where the money is not owed to the player. Only if there are salary guarantees, there will be a payout associated with dead money when the player is released.

There are two main exceptions to this general expedited bonus allocation rule:

1. Only the proportion of the current year is taken into account when determining the salary cap if transactions occur after June 1st. The distribution of bonuses in future contract years is deferred until the next league year starting in March of the following year.

2. A team may also release two players each league year until June 1st (known as a post-June 1st assignment), who will be treated under the restrictions as if they were released after June 1st. the team must have the player’s full number by June 2, even if he is no longer on the roster. During this time, the player’s salary is not taken into account if it is not guaranteed.

Here is a list of 15 standout players who could be in different form next season due to a trade or salary cap violation.

• Salary cap number for 2023: $34.875 million
• 2023 Compensation: $33 million
• 2023 Dead Money: $5.675 million
• Salary savings in 2023: $29.25 million

The Raiders released Carr on Tuesday to prevent his $40.4 million salary from becoming fully guaranteed after he refused to waive a no-trade clause in his contract. Carr’s base salary of $32.9 million in 2023 and $7.5 million of his base salary of $41.9 million in 2024 are both injury-guaranteed when Carr signed a three-year contract extension averaging nearly 40. $5 million a year last April would have been fully guaranteed by the third day of Wednesday. period of exemption from participation in the 2023 championship (February 15).

• Salary cap number for 2023: $31,623,570
• 2023 Compensation: $59.515 million
• 2023 Dead Money: $40,313,570 ($15,833,570 if trading after June 1st)
• Salary savings in 2023: -$8.69M ($15.79M trading after June 1st)

Rodgers will make a decision on his football career after a four-day “retreat in the dark” expected to begin anytime this week. A four-time NFL MVP doesn’t rule out retirement. This seems unlikely because Rogers will walk away from a fully guaranteed $59.465 million and he will be in the shadows if he ends up in the same Hall of Fame class as Tom Brady, who recently retired.

Rodgers became the first NFL player to make $50 million a year last March when he decided he wanted to stay with the Packers rather than try to force a trade. The contract is generally agreed to be worth $150.815 million over three years, although the deal has two additional years below market (2025 and 2026).

The Rogers contract has a rarely used double option bonus structure. Initially, Rogers’ base salary in 2023 is a fully guaranteed $59.465 million. A $58.3 million fee is required to exercise Rogers’ $20.9 million contract year option for 2025 to reduce his 2023 base salary to a fully guaranteed $1.165 million. The window to implement this option is the first day of the 2023 league (March 15) until the day before the first game of the 2023 regular season in Green Bay in September.

In terms of the salary cap, it is assumed that the option years will be increased. Option bonuses are distributed pro rata to the length of the contract (up to a maximum of five years), including option years, starting from the league year in which the option is exercised.

If Rodgers decides he wants to leave Green Bay, the Packers will not exercise the option for 2023 regardless of the timing of the trade. Choosing the option before the trade would add $59.465 million to dead money, bringing the total to $99,778,570.

The acquiring team will take over the remainder of Rodgers’ contract, including the right to exercise the option. Rogers will technically have a contract until 2026, but realistically for two years worth $108.815 million unless two below-market salaries are adjusted in 2025 and 2026.

The new team will have $15.79 million for Rodgers in 2023, consisting of a $14.575 million option bonus, his $1.165 million base salary, and a $50,000 workout bonus. Rogers’ maximum values ​​for 2024, 2025 and 2026 will be $32,541,666, $51,141,166 and $45,291,668.

• Salary cap number for 2023: $26,171,471
• 2023 Compensation: $26,171,471
• 2023 Dead Money: Nobody
• Salary savings in 2023: $26,171,471

Commanders should regret dropping their 2022 and 2023 third-round pick to the Colts last March because of Wentz’s failed experiment. Wentz was expected to be the best quarterback Washington has had since Kirk Cousins ​​left in 2018 as a free agent after playing under the franchise’s tags the previous two seasons. Instead, Wentz was limited to eight games due to injury and poor play. He won’t live to see the last two years of his contract worth just over $53.4 million and will be on his way to the fourth team in as many years.