Don't even try to follow cap implications any more (never was good at it,) but I don't get why this is cap suicide. Someone dumb it down for me, long time listener, first time caller. Why is getting rid of Fitzgerald cap suicide, and are there any mitigating mechanisms that could be used in the hypothetical deal?
not sure why is hurting you but try this:
at simplest: trading a vet who signed a contract with a lot of bonus $ can be cap suicide for the losing team because all that bonus $ that was being prorated over the out-years of the contract - all of a sudden gets lumped back into the here and now in one lump sum.
if player is in last year of a contract it will make no difference;
if he still has 3+ to go; a trade is unlikely.
Ex:
2010: player A: signs 5-year deal for $25M -$1M salary per yr & $20M signing bonus (sb)
cap hit on team each yr: $5M
cap hit in yr traded to losing team:
-if traded in 2011: $16M
(20sb - 4M from 2010) [team out cash of $21M for 1 yr of play]
-if traded in 2012: $12M
(20sb-8 from 2010-11) [team out cash of #22M for 2 yr of play-11M per]
-if traded in 2013: $8M
(etc) [team out $23M for 3 yrs-7.6 per]
-if traded in 2014: $4M
(etc) [team out $24M for 4 yrs-6M per]
obviously trading the guy in 11 or 12 makes no sense; it dumps 10%+ of your cap space on a guy who is going to play for someone else. unless the guy is screwing the coach's wife
; a team wont do that.
