This past week, the Cleveland Browns signed DE Jadeveon Clowney to a 1-year deal worth $8 million, with up to $2 million in incentives included. Browns GM Andrew Berry continued to include voidable years in the deal to save cap space in 2021 and spread the burden out over future years.
DE Jadeveon Clowney’s Contract, Cap Hits Per Year
Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Void | Total Cap Hit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Base Salary | Signing Bonus | Roster Bonus | Void | Total Cap Hit |
2021 | $2,500,000 | $900,000 | $470,588 | $0 | $3,870,588 |
2022 | $0 | $900,000 | $0 | $2,700,000 | $3,600,000 |
2023 | $0 | $900,000 | $0 | ($900,000) | $0 |
2024 | $0 | $900,000 | $0 | ($900,000) | $0 |
2025 | $0 | $900,000 | $0 | ($900,000) | $0 |
Total | $2,500,000 | $4,500,000 | $470,588 | $0 | $7,470,588 |
- Clowney has $7 million fully guaranteed — that includes his $2.5 million base salary in 2021, and his $4.5 million signing bonus bonus, which is spread out over five years (four of which are voided years).
- In 2022, Clowney’s remaining four years will void, and Cleveland will accelerate a dead cap hit of $3.6 million.
- Clowney also has a per-game roster bonus that totals $1 million. Since he played in only 8 games last year, only $470,588 of that counts against the cap.
- It’s hard to do year-by-year cap comparisons that seem relevant when money is spread out over voidable years. Clowney has the 16th-highest cap amount on the team this year, which seems cheap. But then he’ll hold the 11th-highest cap charge next year, without being on the team (unless he receives an extension of some kind).