Mason Crosby counts $3.6 million in dead money against the salary cap over the next three seasons. That's a lot of money that could potentially go toward handing out contract extensions to other players.

CheeseheadTV  wrote:

I may have it wrong but something about that article does not make sense.

When they say "dead money" I assume that means the amount of his signing bonus that accelerates when he is cut and it sounds like that is 1.8 million.

The article misses a few points. If they cut him they don't have to pay him his base salary of 2.4 million so they save that right off the top. Also, unless the rules have changed regarding signing bonus if they cut him they could defer half the prorated amount until next season. That means Crosby would have a cap hit of 900K this season and not 3.1 million. That is why teams usually made their veteran cuts after June 1st when the new year started so they could split the hit over two years.

Its not a matter of 1.8 million because they could easily save that over 3 years by the reduced salary of the new guy.

I don't see salary cap as an issue here at all and in fact I would say it would make more sense to cut him cap wise than to keep him, assuming you would get equal performance from a new kicker. The dead money you would have to count against the cap (even if the full 1.8 million counted and not just 900K like I think would) plus the new kicker salary would likely still be less than 3.1 million cap hit if you keep Crosby. The way I see it you would gain cap space.

Originally Posted by: sschind