Gronkowski's $10 million option picked up--now signed through 2019

[RedOctober3829]

https://twitter.com/FieldYates/status/628556869871751168
https://twitter.com/BenVolin/status/628568229389180928
https://twitter.com/BenVolin/status/628571520844083200

 

[tims4wins]

What is the cap impact of this? Simple as adding $4M to this year's cap and saving it from next year? Or more complicated?
 
Saving money off next year's cap could be important with all of the young talent with expiring contracts coming up soon (DH, Jones, Solder, etc.)

 

[Stitch01]

Could just effect cash and not cap, I think, if they have to exercise the bonus this year but are changing out the payment dates. Miguel currently has that $10MM bonus prorated on the cap starting in '15 for $2MM a year for the next 5 years. If they've turned it into two separate option bonuses then they might be able to prorate just the $4MM for this year instead of the $10MM. That would save $1.2MM on this years cap (which would increase the hit in later year), but not sure why Gronk would agree to that with no other concession. So maybe its just cash.

Im sure Miguel will post something soon on his site and/or twitter

 

[j44thor]

Could just effect cash and not cap, I think, if they have to exercise the bonus this year but are changing out the payment dates. Miguel currently has that $10MM bonus prorated on the cap starting in '15 for $2MM a year for the next 5 years. If they've turned it into two separate option bonuses then they might be able to prorate just the $4MM for this year instead of the $10MM. That would save $1.2MM on this years cap (which would increase the hit in later year), but not sure why Gronk would agree to that with no other concession. So maybe its just cash.

Im sure Miguel will post something soon on his site and/or twitter

 
If he is getting a check for 4M today as opposed to 10M at end of NFL calendar year that might be incentive enough esp since the payout is still 10M.

 

[Morgan's Magic Snowplow]

Could be cash and not cap or they could be really making that 4M into 2015 salary, which would concentrate the cap hit now and lighten it later.  Right now they have 8.9M in cap space and that's a little bit more than they usually take into the season.  They can always carry it over but there are advantages to decreasing future-year commitments rather than simply carrying over a ton of space.

 

[loshjott]

Pats were smart to do this now with Gronk in camp rather than, say, a month ago when who knows what the Gronk party crew would do with that $4M check.

 

[Stitch01]

 
If he is getting a check for 4M today as opposed to 10M at end of NFL calendar year that might be incentive enough esp since the payout is still 10M.

Good point, I missed the $4MM now part.

 

[RedOctober3829]

Could just effect cash and not cap, I think, if they have to exercise the bonus this year but are changing out the payment dates. Miguel currently has that $10MM bonus prorated on the cap starting in '15 for $2MM a year for the next 5 years. If they've turned it into two separate option bonuses then they might be able to prorate just the $4MM for this year instead of the $10MM. That would save $1.2MM on this years cap (which would increase the hit in later year), but not sure why Gronk would agree to that with no other concession. So maybe its just cash.

Im sure Miguel will post something soon on his site and/or twitter

This would indicate that they are indeed picking up the remaining 4 years on his contract.  It states in his contract that if they pick up that $10 million bonus the rest of the contract (16-19) triggers into effect.

 

[MillarTime]

Pats were smart to do this now with Gronk in camp rather than, say, a month ago when who knows what the Gronk party crew would do with that $4M check.

 
Gronk appears to be very smart with his $$$$
 
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/rob-gronkowski-says-he-hasnt-spent-one-dime-of-his-nfl-salary

 

[Average Reds]

Could just effect cash and not cap, I think, if they have to exercise the bonus this year but are changing out the payment dates. Miguel currently has that $10MM bonus prorated on the cap starting in '15 for $2MM a year for the next 5 years. If they've turned it into two separate option bonuses then they might be able to prorate just the $4MM for this year instead of the $10MM. That would save $1.2MM on this years cap (which would increase the hit in later year), but not sure why Gronk would agree to that with no other concession. So maybe its just cash.

Im sure Miguel will post something soon on his site and/or twitter

 
It's not like Gronk is doing them a favor.  Whatever their reasons, the team did him a favor.

 

[Leather]

 
Gronk appears to be very smart with his $$$$
 
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/rob-gronkowski-says-he-hasnt-spent-one-dime-of-his-nfl-salary

 
He seems to be a rare NFL player that has loyal loved ones around him that look out for him as opposed to many players who just have hangers-on to help spend money.  I'm sure it doesn't hurt that he has a couple of brothers that have been in the NFL and know the business a little bit.

 

[RedOctober3829]

 
It's not like Gronk is doing them a favor.  Whatever their reasons, the team did him a favor.

They picked up the remaining 4 years of his contract in exchange for the splitting up of the $10 million.  I'd say both parties are happy.  He gets $4 million right now plus he's signed through 2019 while the team got him under a very team-friendly deal.  Gronk would command huge money if he hit the market this year.  They picked up the option also because if they didn't then they couldn't franchise him.  

 

[Stitch01]

I assumed picking up the option was a given after last year, but it is true that doing it at the start of the year takes out injury risk for Gronk for the year.

 

[RedOctober3829]

I assumed picking up the option was a given after last year, but it is true that doing it at the start of the year takes out injury risk for Gronk for the year.

This link goes into more depth about what the re-working of the option does for salary cap reasons.  It doesn't mention one way or the other about injury risk.
 
http://overthecap.com/gronkowski-slightly-tweaks-contract/

 

[Stitch01]

Well it had to be picked up be the end of the '15 league year so if something happened to Gronk's health this year they could have not picked up the option.

Im not convinced the author of that article has the cap treatment correct.

 

[Joshv02]

Yates says that "[t]he decision does not have any impact on the team's salary cap."

 

[amarshal2]

They picked up the remaining 4 years of his contract in exchange for the splitting up of the $10 million.  I'd say both parties are happy.  He gets $4 million right now plus he's signed through 2019 while the team got him under a very team-friendly deal.  Gronk would command huge money if he hit the market this year.  They picked up the option also because if they didn't then they couldn't franchise him.  

 
Splitting up the $10M is not a concession for Gronk.  If anything, it increases the value of the $10M due to the time value of money.  Not to mention, that $10M wasn't guaranteed and they just made it guaranteed.
 
Based on what I'm reading this is the team doing something for Gronk and not the other way around.

 

[RedOctober3829]

 
Splitting up the $10M is not a concession for Gronk.  If anything, it increases the value of the $10M due to the time value of money.  Not to mention, that $10M wasn't guaranteed and they just made it guaranteed.
 
Based on what I'm reading this is the team doing something for Gronk and not the other way around.

They could have given him all of the $10 million right now if they chose to.

 

[amarshal2]

They could have given him all of the $10 million right now if they chose to.

Either way, Gronk concedes nothing.  Given a choice in maybe getting $10M in February and definitely getting $4M now and definitely getting $6M in February, every thinking person chooses the latter.

 

[ivanvamp]

One of the biggest keys to the 2015 Patriots is, once again, the health of Rob Gronkowski.  We've seen what a healthy Gronk means for this offense.  Without him, they are average.  With him, they are elite.  

 

[Average Reds]

They could have given him all of the $10 million right now if they chose to.

That was not the question, nor was it one of the options.

The question was "why would Gronk agree to this this without any other concessions?" And the answer is "because it's a much better deal for Gronk than what he was getting."

 

[dcmissle]

 
He seems to be a rare NFL player that has loyal loved ones around him that look out for him as opposed to many players who just have hangers-on to help spend money.  I'm sure it doesn't hurt that he has a couple of brothers that have been in the NFL and know the business a little bit.

If he is smart enough to bank every penny of his NFL salary, he probably is smart enough to invest it wisely. And if he does that, he won't have to work a day after his playing days are over.

This is great. And unusual.

 

[Valek123]

I think a healthy Gronk extends Brady's remaining effective career, he is truly a transcendent player and if he can keep healthy will put up insane numbers through the end of this contract.  I've never seen a player that can so completely change defensive schemes as him, and I can't imagine watching a player like him play for another team against the Pats.  He must be extremely frustrating to watch from the other side.

 

[soxfan121]

https://twitter.com/patscap/status/629428777572024321
 
CapSpace=$6,629,988 ‏@patscap  13m13 minutes ago
Why 2m drop in cap space? Been a week since Gronk signed his deal+his NFLPA cap number remains $10.65m. Safe to presume that it is correct.
 
https://twitter.com/patscap/status/629428918110523393
 
CapSpace=$6,629,988 ‏@patscap  13m13 minutes ago
The Patriots will receive a 2m credit on the 2016 cap.