Details are coming out about how the Bucs have structured the contract for new wide receiver Julio Jones. And as the Bucs have done quite a bit during this recent winning window, they have used void years to keep the current year cap hit low.

Jones’ Cap Hit Will Be Less Than $2.1 Million

ESPN’s Field Yates was the first to report the use of void years.

As has become common for them over the past two years, the Bucs used four void years on Julio Jones’ deal.

As a result, his 2022 cap number is just $2,029,058.

A chance for a bounce back season playing with Tom Brady.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) July 28, 2022

Looking at the details that are starting to emerge there are two things that seem to be off on recent reporting. Yesterday it was widely reported that Jones’ contract had a base value of $6 million. That seems to be a bit north of the actual number.

Secondly, Yates reports that the cap hit will be $2,029,058, but I again think that may be slightly off. Looking at what OverTheCap.com has reported they seem to agree with the math I have run.

Breaking Down The Cap Hits

Bucs WR Julio Jones – Photo by: Cliff Welch/PR

This gets a little into the weeds but bear with me. Bucs vice president of football administration Mike Greenberg has purposely violated a very little-known clause in the NFL collective bargaining agreement in order to help lower the cap hit this year. This article may turn out to be an ode to him.

Structure

Let’s start with the length of the deal. Technically it is a five-year deal. However, the contract voids after the first year. The Bucs do this to help manage a low salary cap number this year.

Base Salary

Again I will start with the word technically. Technically the Bucs are giving Jones a base salary in 2022 of $2,250,000. However, not all of this will count against this year’s cap. This is a very rare instance and where Greenberg gets really creative with his cap management.

Article 13 Section 6 (iii)(b) of the collective bargaining agreement states “The difference between the Salary in the second contract year and the first contract year when Salary in the second contract year is less than half the Salary called for in the first year of such Contract” prorates across the life of the contract.

In this case, technically Jones’ salary in year would be the vet minimum for his service time, which is $1,165,000. Therefore, since Greenberg is purposefully failing that test the difference between that amount and the $2,250,000 base salary prorates across the five years of the contract. So while Jones’ base salary is listed as $2,250,000 but only $1,382,000 hits this year’s cap. The remaining $868,000 will ultimately be charged to 2023. 

Roster Bonus

The Bucs gave Jones a $2,500,000 roster bonus that immediately prorates across the five years of the contract. This turns into a $500,000 cap hit for 2022 with the other $2,000,0000 eventually going to 2023’s salary cap. Now his running 2022 cap charge is $1,882,000. His dead cap charge in 2023 is now up to $2,868,000.

Per-Game Roster Bonuses

The last component of Jones’ cap-hit and salary is a bit trickier. Jones has per game roster bonuses that total $1,250,000 for this year. If he plays all 17 games, he will earn that total and the base value of his contract comes to $6,000,000 ($2.25M base + $2.5M roster bonus + $1.25 per game bonuses). This is the true base value of his contract. However, because Jones only played 10 games last year, part of the per-game roster bonuses are charged to this year and part are potentially charged to next year.

It all comes down to how the NFL classifies performance bonuses. Per-game roster bonuses fall under one of two categories. Only performance bonuses that were achieved last year are considered “likely to be earned” and charged to the current year’s cap. In this case because Jones only played 10 games last year only that portion of those bonuses is charged to 2022. $1,250,000 prorated to 10 games comes out to $735,294 normally. However, because of the aforementioned 50% rule that Greenberg purposefully failed this amount gets prorated further across the life of the contract. So that $735,294 gets divided across five years and this year’s cap hit for it becomes $147,058. Add this to where we were and you get a 2022 cap hit of $2,029,058. 

This also means that Jones’ dead cap hit next year will most likely be $3,456,236. Depending on how many games Jones plays this year, it could be as low as $3,309,178 (if Jones does not play a single game) or as high as $3,970,942 if he plays in every game. This does not count any of the performance bonuses that could boost that number by another $2 million.

Greenberg Is Doing Everything He Can

For a franchise to win a Super Bowl in the modern NFL it requires every person in the organization to perform to the best of their abilities. This goes way beyond the players on the field. And no member of the Bucs organization may be performing to the best of their abilities quite as well as Mike Greenberg.