Diggs restructure back in March?

[BigDingus]

31 minutes ago, Aussie Joe said:

Diggs is setting himself up to be the escape goat this year 

 

Escape goat? I like it!

 

 

 

[mrags]

33 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

Playing what? We’re playing the game of trying to explain something to you that you clearly can’t understand. So, you’re welcome?

Actually you replied to a comment that regardless if Diggs knew about the restructure or not it happened and it’s over so pointless to bring up the discussion. You have been zero help on the subject and are no longer needed in this thread. You can go now. 

[JoPoy88]

4 minutes ago, mrags said:

Actually you replied to a comment that regardless if Diggs knew about the restructure or not it happened and it’s over so pointless to bring up the discussion. You have been zero help on the subject and are no longer needed in this thread. You can go now. 

With pleasure godspeed 🫡 I look forward to your next new stadium whinefest.

[K-9]

1 hour ago, Aussie Joe said:

Diggs is setting himself up to be the escape goat this year 

That’s because Diggs as such low self of steam.

[mrags]

43 minutes ago, JoPoy88 said:

With pleasure godspeed 🫡 I look forward to your next new stadium whinefest.

I guess I’ll have to accept that I’ll continue to bring realistic argument and discussion to topics.

Instead of replying to topics with responses like “doesn’t matter. They were doing it either way. He “approved” it when he signed his deal.” It’s amazing how many times I have to remind people that we’re on a message board for topics of discussion/argument, and information. Not just to post useless information. 

 

things were so much better before BBMB closed and sent so many useless individuals here. 

[Mango]

7 hours ago, Beck Water said:

 

It really wasn't too possible before the restructure.  He had $21.76M of signing and restructure bonus on the Bills books even prior to his $16M fully guaranteed option bonus and his $6.745 salary to bonus restrcuture.

The restructure didn’t affect this years number. It affects the dead cap going forward. I checked earlier not restructuring would have saved something like $6-8M next year. 

[JoPoy88]

4 hours ago, mrags said:

I guess I’ll have to accept that I’ll continue to bring realistic argument and discussion to topics.

Instead of replying to topics with responses like “doesn’t matter. They were doing it either way. He “approved” it when he signed his deal.” It’s amazing how many times I have to remind people that we’re on a message board for topics of discussion/argument, and information. Not just to post useless information. 

 

things were so much better before BBMB closed and sent so many useless individuals here. 

 

jesus. Just read this Twitter thread then. I don’t know if this will help you around whatever brain bubble you’re dealing with but have at it. YES, of course they alerted Diggs and his representatives that they intended to restructure his deal. NO, he didn’t have a choice in agreeing to it, unless there were additional terms renegotiated. 
 

And I never spent a second on BBMB. But I can confidently say there are numerous migrants from that board here that are infinitely more pleasant and knowledgeable than you.

[Beck Water]

9 hours ago, Mango said:

The restructure didn’t affect this years number. It affects the dead cap going forward. I checked earlier not restructuring would have saved something like $6-8M next year. 

I’m not sure what you mean by saying it didn’t affect this year’s number.  
 

it did, that was the point

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

13 hours ago, maddenboy said:

except, the contract itself can provide, for valuable consideration, that it is a team option to restructure. 

 

ex:  Addendum Q.  player herein agrees that CLUB may, at anytime and for any reason, with or without notice to Player, restructure the payments due under this contract, according to the following formula:

 

blah blah blah.

 

---

Phone call to Agent:  "hey Agent, just letting you know we're gonna go ahead and exercise Addendum Q.  We're gonna do it March 15.  We'll give you a reminder on the day before we do it.  Thanks buddy"

 

Agent: "thanks Beane.   We'll go ahead and announce that we have agreed to restructure"

 

Beane:  "sure.  fine.  whatever."   [even though technically, you 'agreed' to this when you signed the original contract]

 

 

They didn't add any years or extension so i suppose its possible?  Why would anyone complain about getting paid up front?

[Mango]

31 minutes ago, Beck Water said:

I’m not sure what you mean by saying it didn’t affect this year’s number.  
 

it did, that was the point

 

Let me be more specific, restructuring Diggs didn't make him immovable this year. Although it creates some additional pain. It increases the burden for the following years dead cap.

 

The difference in trading Diggs today changed from $11.8M to $13.2M. Certainly not an insurmountable increase. Next years dead cap with a trade today increases from $25 to $31M. We freed up $6M with the restructure, but it doesn't cost us $6M more this season to move on. That comes next season.

 

[Jerome007]

13 hours ago, K-9 said:

That’s because Diggs as such low self of steam.

Let off some steam, Stefon

 

[Beck Water]

2 hours ago, Mango said:

 

Let me be more specific, restructuring Diggs didn't make him immovable this year. Although it creates some additional pain. It increases the burden for the following years dead cap.

 

The difference in trading Diggs today changed from $11.8M to $13.2M. Certainly not an insurmountable increase. Next years dead cap with a trade today increases from $25 to $31M. We freed up $6M with the restructure, but it doesn't cost us $6M more this season to move on. That comes next season.

 

 

First of all, in a trade, there is no "next year's dead cap".  The dead cap all falls into the current season as far as I know.  There is no "post June 1" designation for trades.

 

In March, prior to the option bonus and the restructure, it would have cost us $22.7M in dead cap to trade Diggs.  The trade partner would have taken on a fully guaranteed $16M option bonus and a fully guaranteed $7.9M salary, a bargain for a WR of Diggs caliber.

 

After the option bonus was exercised before March 21 but before the restructure, it would have cost us $38.7M to trade Diggs.

 

Then after the restructure, it rose to $45.44M.

 

I have no idea where you're getting $11.8 and $13.2M.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/stefon-diggs-16872/

[Mango]

1 hour ago, Beck Water said:

 

First of all, in a trade, there is no "next year's dead cap".  The dead cap all falls into the current season as far as I know.  There is no "post June 1" designation for trades.

 

In March, prior to the option bonus and the restructure, it would have cost us $22.7M in dead cap to trade Diggs.  The trade partner would have taken on a fully guaranteed $16M option bonus and a fully guaranteed $7.9M salary, a bargain for a WR of Diggs caliber.

 

After the option bonus was exercised before March 21 but before the restructure, it would have cost us $38.7M to trade Diggs.

 

Then after the restructure, it rose to $45.44M.

 

I have no idea where you're getting $11.8 and $13.2M.

https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/stefon-diggs-16872/

 

There is no post June 1 designation for trades....like there is for cuts, where a team can cut up to two players per year in March and not take them off the books until June. The emphasis is on "designation", which means its purely clerical. Per the two premier cap websites, there are different financial implications for trades pre and post June 1.  If there isn't, somebody should definitely let both Spotrac and OTC know, because both list it with its own specific costs for Diggs (and every other player in the league) before and after that date for both trade and release.

 

In Spotrac you click on the x on the players contract page for the year you want to view cap implications for pre-June 1 cut, pre-June 1 trade, post-June 1 cut, or post June 1 trade. OTC it is similar, but it is just in the right hand column, you select one of those from the drop down.

 

I got the $11.8M and $13.2M from the Wayback Machine from Spotrac September 9, 2022, which is after Diggs signed his extension. I did that to cross check the cap implications post restructure. 

 

http://web.archive.org/web/20220909075458/https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/buffalo-bills/stefon-diggs-16872/

Edited June 14, 2023 by Mango

[Tuco]

Ugh. First of all, the restructure in March was two different things. Diggs had a $16 guaranteed option bonus that had to be exercised by March 21.  Don't anybody be fooled by the word "option" in a guaranteed option bonus. It's not an option on whether to pay it, it's guaranteed after all. It's a team option on how to pay it. That means when the guaranteed bonus is due the team has the option to pay it all in the season as guaranteed salary (almost never happens) or to convert it into signing bonus and prorate it over the rest of the contract (almost always happens). 

 

The sole existence of a (guaranteed) 2nd year option bonuses is a way to guarantee a player more money at signing, but not having it hit the salary cap until the 2nd year of the contract, while still being able to prorate it in the subsequent years. All the big contracts have them, White, Allen tons of players on all teams around the league. Many times those of us who look casually at the numbers don't always even realize they're there because in many cases the restructure of the bonus is automatic. And even if it's not automatic it always still happens except in rare cases. Because it's literally always going to happen, very often sites like Spotrac simply show the number as option bonus and the cap hits in future years as though the restructure has already happened, and we don't really even see it as a restructure. So we never think about it.

 

This $16 million was an option bonus in the 2nd year of the new contract Diggs signed in 2022. And yes, by agreeing to be paid in option bonus form, Diggs totally gave, and expected, the Bills to "restructure" that part of his contract in March. So the only part of any March restructure we're talking about in relation to the OP's question is the $6.745 million of guaranteed salary that was also converted to signing bonus and gained some $5+ million in cap space.

 

The CBA specifically requires all salary to be paid throughout the season in either weekly or bi-weekly payments. It is possible, as maddenboy pointed out above, to have an addendum whereby a player can agree to let the team restructure salary without gaining permission. But the real point is, whether Diggs had that in his contract or not, even if he could have refused and did refuse, he could only have refused to restructure the $6.745 million. Everything else he already agreed to when he signed the new contract in 2022.

 

It would have been possible for the Bills to reduce the dead cap by another $16 million but they would have had to trade Diggs before that exercise date of March 21st. That was unlikely and didn't happen, and the option bonus was converted as expected. So the end result is, the restructuring of the $6.745 million in March that increased our '23 cap space by $5+ million, also increased our dead cap figure for trading Diggs in 2023 from $38.721 million to $45.466 million. That number could be split by trading Diggs after June 1st. But the total amount is the same.

 

So, as Mango said above, restructuring Diggs didn't make him unmovable this year. Giving him the whole new contract with tons of guaranteed money in 2022 did that. Whether Diggs had the ability to negate any restructure in March is basically irrelevant since the only amount of dead cap he could have controlled was a mostly negligible when compared to what was already there.

Edited June 14, 2023 by Tuco

[mabden]

Diggs contract was such that his dead cap space if traded before the restructure, would prohibit a trade this season and next.

 

After the restructure,  Diggs dead cap cost made a trade almost impossible this year and definitely next year as well.