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The San Francisco 49ers and Colin Kaepernick agreed to a 6-year contract extension on Wednesday, locking up the 49ers quarterback until 2020. Down below I've posted a more complete rundown of the contract details, updated from the preliminary numbers we discussed on Thursday. The most significant changes related to the "de-escalators", which are really more like escalators. Additionally, the signing bonus is worth $766 more than initially reported. I'm not big into shoes, but I'd imagine Kap could get some pretty nice shoes with that additional $766!
When word came out that the deal was "worth" $126 million, a lot of national columnists began wondering if the 49ers had maybe gone a little too all in with their young quarterback. The reported $21 million APY had some folks shaking their heads, and rival fans laughing at the 49ers. The words salary cap hell were thrown around here and there by opposing fans.
A day later, details started to leak out, and they began to paint a different picture. There was this chatter that the 49ers had pulled the wool over Kap's agents, and that Kap did not get a good deal. As is often the case with columnists, they were looking at this from a very black and white perspective, as though someone had to get screwed in the negotiation. Furthermore, we've reached a point where people are overly cynical, and assume the worst. They ignored the fact that maybe Colin Kaepernick took a bit less (particularly with the signing bonus), knowing that it would open the door for retaining some of the talent around him. The 49ers will not be able to keep everybody, but extra cap space in 2014 could mean at least one more player coming back.
We've started to see some folks chime in on this. Jason LaCanfora and Joel Corry offered the most specific analysis.
And with that, on to the numbers. We've got the signing bonus info, then each year broken down. I've posted the official cap hit for each season, and then a brief explanation of what impacts the number.
Escalators
I wanted to clarify one thing first. The initial report was that Kap's contract included de-escalators that could lower the total contract value by $12 million. In reality, this $12 million is an escalator that can boost each base salary by $2 million. What does that mean? PFT reported base salaries of $12.4 million, $13.9 million, $16.5 million, $17 million, $18.8 million, and $21 million. They then said each of those could be reduced by $2 million if the de-escalator wasn't meant.
In reality, the base salaries are each $2 million less, and can increase by $2 milion each year if the "escalator" is met. Some would view this as a semantics argument, but hopefully you get the idea.
As far as how the escalators work? It requires Kap be named AP 1st or 2nd team All Pro, OR he play 80 percent of snaps and the 49ers go to the Super Bowl. I suppose he's likely to get 80% of snaps if he ends up as an All Pro, but he technically does not have to reach the playing time requirement if he gets the All Pro designation.
Additionally, as we said before, if Kap hits on this in 2014, it voids the remaining escalator requirements and bumps all of his salaries and cap hits up by $2 million. If he does not reach the requirements in 2014, he does not get the $2 million bump in 2015. However, if he hits the requirements in 2015, his 2016-2020 salaries will each see a $2 million increase. If he does not reach it in 2014 or 2015, but does reach it in 2016, his 2017-2020 salaries will each see a $2 million increase. This carries on through the life of the deal.
If this does not make sense, let me know in the comments.
Signing Bonus: $12,328,766 - prorates to $2,465,753 for 2014 through 2018 cap hits
2014
Base: $645,000
Workout bonus: $100,000
Salary Cap number: $3,767,444
Cap number based on base salary, workout bonus, prorated signing bonus, and $556,691 remaining to be prorated from his rookie contract signing bonus. Salary cannot escalate.
2015
Base: $10,400,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $15,265,733
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, workout bonus, and prorated signing bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement in 2014.
2016
Base: $11,900,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $16,765,753
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, workout bonus, and prorated signing bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement before 2016.
2017
Base: $14,500,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $19,365,753
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, workout bonus, and prorated signing bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement before 2017.
2018
Base: $15,000,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $19,865,754
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, workout bonus, and prorated signing bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement before 2018.
2019
Base: $16,800,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $19,200,000
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, and workout bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement before 2018.
2020
Base: $19,000,000
Roster bonus: $2,000,000 (divided per game)
Workout bonus: $400,000
Salary cap number: $21,400,000
Cap number includes base, roster bonus, and workout bonus. Can escalate by $2 million if he reaches the escalator requirement before 2019.
Guarantees
The contract includes a total of $61 million in some form of guarantee.
Fully guaranteed: $12,973,766
This covers his signing bonus and first year base salary
Injury guaranteed: $48,026,234
This covers his 2015, 2016, 2017 base salaries in full, factoring in the $2 million escalators each year. If the requirements are not met in a given year, that $2 million no longer becomes guaranteed for injury for the following season. This also covers $5,226,234 of his 2018 base salary. All of these become fully guaranteed for injury, skill and cap related releases on April 1 of the given league year.
Insurance
Kap is required to get a $20 million insurance policy with the 49ers situated as beneficiaries. Anthony Ly took a look at what this could mean.
Comparing contracts
Jason Hurley is going to put together some more details on other QB contracts, but for now, Kap's contract ranks sixth among NFL quarterbacks with an APY of $19 million. If he hits the escalators, he adds another $2 million. Here are the top five contracts currently ahead of Kap in terms of APY:
1. Aaron Rodgers - $22,000,000
2. Matt Ryan - $20,750,000
3. Joe Flacco - $20,100,000
4. Drew Brees - $20,000,000
5. Peyton Manning - $19,200,000
If Kap gets that boost, he'd climb up to $21 million in APY. It's worth noting that the APY rankings will change since player pay usually changes somewhat year-to-year. And of course, when we head into the 2015 season, there's a good chance Russell Wilson will have a new deal, and Cam Newton probably will as well. Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck probably won't given that their teams will have the fifth year option to use, but you never know.
All in all, even with further details, I still view this deal as a potential win-win for the parties. People talk about this as a year-to-year deal, but barring something drastic, does anybody really expect the 49ers to cut Kap for cap or skill purposes anytime soon? Anything is possible, but with his talent and hopefully Harbaugh's continuing QB coaching skills, I think we see some improvement from Kap. Whatever the case, I am not expecting to see the 49ers cut him any time soon.
And as for the "low" signing bonus? As I said above, people are generally cynical about professional athletes and contracts. In this case, I think we're seeing a guy who willingly gave up more signing bonus money so the team could extend a guy like Michael Crabtree. People talk about how much more guaranteed money other players received, but much of that came in the form of mammoth signing bonuses that immediately hamstrung the team (see Flacco, Joe). By taking a smaller signing bonus, the 49ers have a significant opportunity at their disposal.