NFL salary cap

[BuffaloRules]

Does anyone really understand how this works?

It seems way more complicated than League salary cap.

You look at players moving around the NFL from team to team, most of them still seem to be under contract for several years with Team A,but Team A will get rid of them to save money and they sign a new deal with Team B usually for less money.

How come they move if they have a contract with Team A??

Also, players seem to structure their contracts so they are paid less money in the first few years of their contract, gradually increasing to big bucks for their later contract years.

They obviously do this to help out the team in the short term who may be having troubles staying under the cap, but why would they if the team can ship them out anyway before the contract expires??

Also, sometimes players get massive signing bonus to sign with a team, does this count towards the Salary Cap??

Appreciate any comments.....

 

[Big Tim]

I think the reason they sign those increasing style salaries is that they beleive that they will be a better player in the next year, and rather than holding out and missing pre-season training they aotumatically get a salary increase. Signing bonuses count towards the salary cap, but this is an upfront payment paid to the player each year, eg if a player signs a 5yr deal with a $5mill bonus they get a mill each year they are at the team, but only the mill for the current season counts to the salary cap.

This is my understanding of the cap, though it may not bo 100% correct.