It was interesting when we learned the Green Bay Packers signed cornerback Tramon Williams to a two-year, $10 million deal. On the surface that looks like a relatively big commitment for a 35-year-old cornerback.
It is, if Williams plays the full two years of the deal. However, that’s probably not terribly likely.
As expected, the deal is team friendly in the first year. Williams will count just $3.6 million against the Packers’ 2018 salary cap. That number will escalate to $6.375 million in 2019.
In year one of the deal, Williams’ base salary is $1.5 million. His roster bonus is $375,000 and he has a workout bonus of $100,000. In year two of the deal, those same numbers increase to $3.25 million and $1.4 million for the first two amounts. The $100,000 workout bonus remains the same.
Ultimately, if the Packers wanted to release Williams after one season, they would save nearly $5 million against the salary cap. Williams, meanwhile, wouldn’t totally lose out on one last payday. The deal contained a $3.25 million signing bonus, which is prorated over the length of the contract for salary cap purposes, but paid to the player upfront.
If the Packers did want to keep Williams for that final season, they surely could afford to do so. A number of players, including big-money guys Randall Cobb and Clay Matthews, are coming off the books in 2019.
As for 2018, the Packers now have about $16 million of available salary cap space.
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$3.25 nillion is far too large for a signing bonus. The guy had one healthy bounceback season.