Kirk Cousins signs fully guaranteed 3/$87 mill deal

[OffensivelyPC]

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000921509/article/kirk-cousins-officially-joins-minnesota-vikings

 

Fully guaranteed.  Wow...

[Superman]

$84m, with incentives that can take it to $90m. 

 

I'd like to see the details on the "fully guaranteed" part. I bet it's not fully guaranteed at signing... Doesn't matter, but I assume there are some rolling guarantees, otherwise, the Vikings have to put $84m in escrow right now.

[OffensivelyPC]

4 minutes ago, Superman said:

$84m, with incentives that can take it to $90m. 

 

I'd like to see the details on the "fully guaranteed" part. I bet it's not fully guaranteed at signing... Doesn't matter, but I assume there are some rolling guarantees, otherwise, the Vikings have to put $84m in escrow right now.

I thought it was a typo when I first saw it myself.  I mean with Keenum, they were able to turn him into a highly efficient QB, and for what, league minimum?  If they get a similar return on a per dollar basis, Cousins will average a 158.3 passer rating with 70 TDs per year or something.  I kid...

 

Even so, $28 per is a modest amount with "normal" guarantees.  If it's as guaranteed as the article reads, I'm having a hard time believing this was the best way to structure it unless he does go out and give them insane production.

[Superman]

1 minute ago, OffensivelyPC said:

I thought it was a typo when I first saw it myself.  I mean with Keenum, they were able to turn him into a highly efficient QB, and for what, league minimum?  If they get a similar return on a per dollar basis, Cousins will average a 158.3 passer rating with 70 TDs per year or something.  I kid...

 

Even so, $28 per is a modest amount with "normal" guarantees.  If it's as guaranteed as the article reads, I'm having a hard time believing this was the best way to structure it unless he does go out and give them insane production.

 

Structure and value, I don't have a problem with the concept. If you're going to pay a QB $30m/year, there's no way to hide the cap hit. It will go something like $24m, $28m, $33m, or something in that ball park. Luck's goes $24m, $27m, $28m the next three years.

 

As for the three year contract, I don't see it as a big deal, either. Once I started understanding contract structures, I realized how often media reports basically lie about what the contract actually is.

 

The Niners are paying Jimmy G $70.6m in 2018 alone -- I'm not sure the timing of the payments because some of it could be deferred, but between signing bonus, roster bonus, base salary and workout bonus, Year 1 cash is $70.6m. That's obviously going to be paid, so it's effectively guaranteed. They aren't going to cut him after Year 1, so his $18.6m cash in 2019 is effectively guaranteed. That's $89.2m in two years, not technically guaranteed, but as good as paid. And that's two years, not three.

 

Luck will have made $75m in the first three years of his contract, and he signed it two years ago, without coming near a tag or free agency.

 

This Cousins deal is entirely about reporting and sensationalism. Most (if not all) franchise level QBs play out the first three years of their contracts, and the structure makes that money effectively guaranteed, so guaranteeing a three year deal isn't a defining moment in the NFL. If a franchise level QB hits free agency next year, in his prime, with proven production and no red flags, he can do three years, $100m, "fully guaranteed." But that never happens, which is the only thing that makes this contract unique, IMO.

 

That's all in theory. The discussion about whether Cousins will live up to this contract is a different one, entirely. But again, that's the same conversation we can have about Jimmy G, who has 7 career starts. 

[OffensivelyPC]

4 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Structure and value, I don't have a problem with the concept. If you're going to pay a QB $30m/year, there's no way to hide the cap hit. It will go something like $24m, $28m, $33m, or something in that ball park. Luck's goes $24m, $27m, $28m the next three years.

 

As for the three year contract, I don't see it as a big deal, either. Once I started understanding contract structures, I realized how often media reports basically lie about what the contract actually is.

 

The Niners are paying Jimmy G $70.6m in 2018 alone -- I'm not sure the timing of the payments because some of it could be deferred, but between signing bonus, roster bonus, base salary and workout bonus, Year 1 cash is $70.6m. That's obviously going to be paid, so it's effectively guaranteed. They aren't going to cut him after Year 1, so his $18.6m cash in 2019 is effectively guaranteed. That's $89.2m in two years, not technically guaranteed, but as good as paid. And that's two years, not three.

 

Luck will have made $75m in the first three years of his contract, and he signed it two years ago, without coming near a tag or free agency.

 

This Cousins deal is entirely about reporting and sensationalism. Most (if not all) franchise level QBs play out the first three years of their contracts, and the structure makes that money effectively guaranteed, so guaranteeing a three year deal isn't a defining moment in the NFL. If a franchise level QB hits free agency next year, in his prime, with proven production and no red flags, he can do three years, $100m, "fully guaranteed." But that never happens, which is the only thing that makes this contract unique, IMO.

 

That's all in theory. The discussion about whether Cousins will live up to this contract is a different one, entirely. But again, that's the same conversation we can have about Jimmy G, who has 7 career starts. 

Yeah, it was the "fully guaranteed" bit that got me.  What you're saying makes sense, I just didn't sit down and think of how it would play out because its not our quarterback.  If I'm understanding you correctly, what you're saying is while the headline reads "fully guaranteed" that's because it assumes he will play the length of the contract, or at least realized all of his base salary and signing bonus.  If this were a 5 year contract, it isn't as guaranteed as one might think because he could flop and the team would cut him when it was appropriate to do so given the dead money and such.  So in that case, he'd get the signing bonus, plus any money earned on his base and any other guarantees not paid out, but would miss out on anything that could have been, but wasn't earned by virtue of staying on the roster.