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Eric Wood's Cap Hit


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I was just reading that the Bills will take the 8.2 million cap hit in 2018 because of Wood's retirement. Retirement due to a career-ending injury should not be a cap hit. I think it is unfair that the league punish a team like this. The poor guy is not cleared to play, so why do we end up taking a hit? Is there any way the Bills can make a move like putting him on IR or medical leave or something so we do not take the hit?  

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If teams could evade cap hits due to medical retirements, there'd be a lot of medical retirements.  Except for kickers, every guy who's played in the NFL for a few years has something or other wrong, that could be used as an excuse.  The salary cap would become much less restrictive than it is now.

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There should be a compromise. Get a third party doctor to check him out and if he agrees, remove part of the cap hit. Not that it can't be rigged, it's still better than giving a team an 8.2M cap hit because the guy can't play anymore (in the most violent sport in the world). 

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Its only unfair if different rules are applied to different teams or the same rule is inconsistently applied.

 

Getting a huge cap hit for an injured player may be unfortunate, but it isn't necessarily unfair unless the rules are applied differently.

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1 hour ago, Utah John said:

If teams could evade cap hits due to medical retirements, there'd be a lot of medical retirements.  Except for kickers, every guy who's played in the NFL for a few years has something or other wrong, that could be used as an excuse.  The salary cap would become much less restrictive than it is now.

 

What? That's ridiculous to say. Players aren't going to want to retire more often because of a rule change.

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8 minutes ago, MJS said:

 

What? That's ridiculous to say. Players aren't going to want to retire more often because of a rule change.

 

No, but damn near every one of the big multi contract vets retires unhealthy was his point.

 

gets dicey. 

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Actually, although it sucks, I think it is fair.  He was already paid the $, and he performed for that $.  The reason for the additional burden is that the cap hit was deferred, ie he was paid but the cap cost was pushed forward.  It's just in this case, that cap hit is now paid all at once instead of spread out over the next few yrs.

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The question is whether Wood's neck injury qualifies him for the $4.8M injury guarantee.  It could be argued that it doesn't.  And if the Bills wanted, they could have him repay the $4.3M remainder of his unamortized bonus, but I doubt they will. 

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It's a tricky situation, but there should be some kind of rule that wouldn't handicap teams for career ending injuries. What if Luck has to retire, or Rodgers, Big Ben? Would those huge salaries drag those teams into cap hell? Teams should have the money to replace a comparable player at that position. Not the same amount, but something like the league average for a starter goes back to cap relief for the team that loses the player, or a compensatory draft pick based on the loss like free agency. 

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5 hours ago, BillsRdue said:

I was just reading that the Bills will take the 8.2 million cap hit in 2018 because of Wood's retirement. Retirement due to a career-ending injury should not be a cap hit. I think it is unfair that the league punish a team like this. The poor guy is not cleared to play, so why do we end up taking a hit? Is there any way the Bills can make a move like putting him on IR or medical leave or something so we do not take the hit?  

 

This is actually a good point. I wonder if they could IR him and work out an “injury settlement” or even whether he would agree to renegotiate his deal to offset the cap hit (get same cash but spread it out?) immediately followed by his release.

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26 minutes ago, BillsRdue said:

It's a tricky situation, but there should be some kind of rule that wouldn't handicap teams for career ending injuries. What if Luck has to retire, or Rodgers, Big Ben? Would those huge salaries drag those teams into cap hell? Teams should have the money to replace a comparable player at that position. Not the same amount, but something like the league average for a starter goes back to cap relief for the team that loses the player, or a compensatory draft pick based on the loss like free agency. 

 

Every team knows the contracts they have signed and can easily assess their risks.

 

As to your question about cap hell, the Colts have 80 million in cap, they would have money to pay off Luck.

Steelers are at minus 2 million right now, Losing a high priced Dead Money guys would hurt them a lot.

 

It's one reason NOT to spend all your cap.  A team needs insurance.

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1 hour ago, Doc said:

The question is whether Wood's neck injury qualifies him for the $4.8M injury guarantee.  It could be argued that it doesn't.  And if the Bills wanted, they could have him repay the $4.3M remainder of his unamortized bonus, but I doubt they will. 

I don't know what they will do but I'm curious to see. So much was made about TT and his injury guarantee at the end of last season and possible taking the payout for the hip. Now Wood is in the same situation but he looks to actually be getting paid for the neck.

 

Tough line of work either way so I have a hard time finding fault with anyone collecting that NFL money. 

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