BREAKING: Heyward Extended

[NorthCoast]

Per Jeremy Fowler
$29M in new money.. yikes

[Prowler]

A horrible move. Never pay an old player on the downside of his career that type of money. This is the first time I'll criticize Khan for this move.

[Buzz]

Tend to agree w you two about the foolishness of giving Cam that kind of $$$$. Don't know if you can pin this all on Khan-- Tomlin/Rooney probably insisted they make this deal.

[Flasteel]

Tend to agree w you two about the foolishness of giving Cam that kind of $$$$. Don't know if you can pin this all on Khan-- Tomlin/Rooney probably insisted they make this deal.

If I owned the team, I'd insist on it too. It's part of the culture-building process and a component that helps ensure the all-time greats are viewed as Steelers. Of course, that's only predicated on whether they think the player can still contribute. Otherwise, he'd get the Polamalu' treatment. $29M in new money over three years isn't going to strap this team by any means either.

[Oviedo]

If I owned the team, I'd insist on it too. It's part of the culture-building process and a component that helps ensure the all-time greats are viewed as Steelers. Of course, that's only predicated on whether they think the player can still contribute. Otherwise, he'd get the Polamalu' treatment. $29M in new money over three years isn't going to strap this team by any means either.

This!!! Totally agree. Do the math...this won't prevent them from doing anything significant

[Buzz]

For his age, Heyward just signed the largest contract of any defensive player in NFL history

he's already slowing down... do we really think he will find the fountain of youth?

Sorry, I would not have done this-- father time is undefeated

I guess a lot of this depends on how much $$$ is guaranteed and what will be the ramifications on the salary cap if we cut him after a year or so

[Northern_Blitz]

Per Jeremy Fowler
$29M in new money.. yikes

Sounds like it's as expected / hoped for.

The guaranteed money is this years salary spread over a signing bonus.

The new money is non-guaranteed salaries of $14MM and $15MM in the next two seasons after this year. So next season he'll see a paycut of $2MM (more than 10%). But he'll get a cap inflation bump if he is still playing the year after that.

So we save some cap hit this year without spending extra cash. And we gave him a cap hit in future years.

Without adding any dummy years.

This is the contract we wanted for Cam.

[Northern_Blitz]

Tend to agree w you two about the foolishness of giving Cam that kind of $$$$. Don't know if you can pin this all on Khan-- Tomlin/Rooney probably insisted they make this deal.

This isn't foolish IMO. It's just an option to retain him if he doesn't want to retire / we don't want to cut him after this season.

It's turning this year's salary into a signing bonus. And adding two "pay as you go" years where his salary is less than it is this year.

[Flasteel]

Sounds like it's as expected / hoped for.

The guaranteed money is this years salary spread over a signing bonus.

The new money is non-guaranteed salaries of $14MM and $15MM in the next two seasons after this year. So next season he'll see a paycut of $2MM (more than 10%). But he'll get a cap inflation bump if he is still playing the year after that.

So we save some cap hit this year without spending extra cash. And we gave him a cap hit in future years.

Without adding any dummy years.

This is the contract we wanted for Cam.

Nice breakdown NB...thanks!!

[WindyCitySteel]

What is the dead cap hit if he is cut next year or in 2026?

[feltdizz]

terrible but typical.

maybe Heyward has something left but I will not be shocked if he is out or 50% at the end of the season when we need him the most.

We love to pay defense.. lol.

[NorthCoast]

What is the dead cap hit if he is cut next year or in 2026?

The guaranteed money is spread over 3 years so after this year I assume the dead cap is in the neighborhood of $10M

[NorthCoast]

terrible but typical.

maybe Heyward has something left but I will not be shocked if he is out or 50% at the end of the season when we need him the most.

We love to pay defense.. lol.

Well, they paid old man Roethlisberger well past his expiration.

[Northern_Blitz]

What is the dead cap hit if he is cut next year or in 2026?

Just spitballing, but let's imagine that the $16MM he was going to earn is split as $15MM SB and $1MM salary (it has to be more than this probably with his years of service).

That means that the $15MM SB is prorated over all 3 years as a cap hit. $5MM each year.

That means we save $10MM off this year's cap by pushing it into next year.

So if he was cut after this season, dead money would be $10MM next offseason (all of the savings form this year).

If he's cut after next season, dead money would be $5MM.

But if we don't use the entire $10MM cap savings this year, it rolls into next year (offsetting any potential dead money from cutting him next season).

[Northern_Blitz]

terrible but typical.

maybe Heyward has something left but I will not be shocked if he is out or 50% at the end of the season when we need him the most.

We love to pay defense.. lol.

Meh

No new money for this year. And an option to keep him for 2 years if we want. And cutting him doesn't really hurt either.

It's not like it's spectacular or anything. But it's also not bad.

I think it's kind of like if they would have options Harris. Not really a big deal either way.