Report: Bengals, Dalton reach agreement on 6-year deal worth $115-million

[kcchief4lif 910]

  If the chiefs are gonna sign Alex, the money is gonna be in the 17-19 mil range..  Looking like this is the new norm for the middle road QB's.

 

Gordon Brunt

@GordBrunt

9:13 AM

 

The Cincinnati Bengals and Andy Dalton wrapped up a bit of business before the season kicks off as the two sides came to an agreement Monday on a contract extension for the quatetrback.

The figures seem relatively high considering Dalton has never led the Bengals to a playoff victory, despite leading them to the Wild Card round in each of the three seasons he's been in the NFL.

Although the negotiations seemed to move along slowly, both sides always seemed certain that an agreement would be reached, with Dalton expressing his confidence of securing an extension last week.

The reported new deal skyrockets Dalton up the list of highest paid quarterbacks, according to OverTheCap.com, as he will now make more than San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Dalton, who's entering his fourth season, has yet to miss a game for the Bengals and, coupled with Pro Bowl receiver A.J. Green, has seen his touchdown numbers escalate each season, throwing a career-high 33 in 2013. However, while his passing yards and touchdown stats have steadily increased, his interceptions have also been on the rise after throwing 20 picks last year.

 

http://www.thescore.com/nfl/news/548830

[kccrow 529]

Bengals were smart though in only guaranteeing 17 million of that contract, leaving them set up for another extension or a cut that would be good for them either way. I think KC will have to give Smith closer to the Eli Manning type deal where more is guaranteed, but the same APY.

[kcchief4lif 910]

Yeah wasnt as bad as it was first reported

 

The Chiefs scored another victory in the fight to keep Alex Smith in Kansas City at an affordable price.

 

Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton signed what on the surface looks like an obnoxious six-year, $115 million extension to keep Dalton in Cincinnati. In his short career Dalton has yet to win a playoff game in most part because he’s been terrible, throwing six interceptions and only one touchdown in three playoff games. In comparison, Alex Smith has thrown nine touchdowns and no interceptions in his three career playoff appearances.

 

So why give Dalton a $115 million deal when there are more questions out there about him than there are answers? Because they are not giving him $115 million.

 

Pro Football Talk got the details of Dalton’s contract and, not surprisingly, the deal is very team friendly. Cincinnati has essentially given Dalton a two-year, $25 million contract with about four option years. Here’s some of the basics from thePFT post:

 

The most important numbers are the numbers fully guaranteed at signing.  Dalton receives a signing bonus of $12 million and a roster bonus in three days of $5 million.  That’s a total of $17 million out of the gates.  Coupled with his $986,000 base salary (which isn’t guaranteed as a legal matter but it is as a practical matter), Dalton will make $18 million in the first year of the deal.

 

Then, on the third day of the 2015 league year in March, Dalton earns a $4 million roster bonus.  He also has a $3 million non-guaranteed base salary in 2015.  That’s $25 million over two years.

 

…

 

In addition to annual workout bonuses of $200,000, Dalton has base salaries of $10.5 million in 2016, $13.1 million in 2017, $13.7 million in 2018, $16 million in 2019, and $17.5 million in 2020.

 

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Dalton’s new deal is also loaded with incentives for playoff appearances, playing time, and performance that could end up boosting the value of his contract.

 

In short, Cincinnati has given Dalton two years to prove his worth at well below franchise tag value before they are forced to make a longterm decision. After two years everything becomes a year-to-year situation. If Dalton proves to be a very good quarterback then the Bengals have him locked up at a very fair price, but if Dalton fails then they can easily part ways with him after 2015.

 

So two years, $25 million, and then we’ll see after that. Are you good with that for Alex Smith? You should be, especially if you are on the “franchise tag” bandwagon, because they deal would save the Chiefs million of dollars in cap space.

 

We’ve been saying this all offseason and I’ll say it again:

 

IGNORE THE OVERALL VALUE, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CONTRACT STRUCTURE.

 

Even after the Jamaal Charles deal, the Chiefs still have some room to work with when it comes to salary cap space in 2014. Over The Cap has Kansas City with about $5.5 million remaining in cap space now that the official terms of Charles deal have been calculated. Restructuring Smith’s 2014 numbers ($8 million cap hit presently) to include more of his bonus money, the Chiefs could load up a lot of his cap hit in 2014, keep his salary cap number under $12 million for 2015, and then put themselves in a situation where they could part with him before the 2016 season if they’ve found a young quarterback they like more than Smith.

 

And if the Chiefs want to keep Smith beyond 2015, they will be well positioned to absorb his larger cap hits. OTC conservatively projects the Chiefs of having about $90 million in cap space available for 2016. Now that number does include predicted contracts for Smith, Justin Houston, Dontari Poe, or Eric Berry and doesn’t include contracts for the 2015 draft class, but it is also based on a predicted $150 million salary cap. Some are predicting the salary cap could be over $155 million by 2016 once new television revenues start to kick in.

 

The real win for the Chiefs today is Dalton makes the second consecutive contract extension to be structured in a way that allows the team to part ways early in the deal without having to pay a significant price. Both Dalton and Colin Kaepernick’s contracts are set up to be short term deals with the franchise having the option to go year-to-year after an initial period of time. This gives the team’s immediate cap flexibility and the chance to hit an eject button while still holding the rights of the player for an extended period of time.

 

Ultimately this is what the Chiefs want to do – keep Smith at an affordable price short term with long terms options and the ability to abort the contract if something better comes along. The franchise tag route is too expensive and does guarantee long term security, and simply letting him walk would put the Chiefs in a position where they could be without a quality quarterback again. Sure, Aaron Murray or Tyler Bray could end up being good but neither has played a single regular season game in the NFL, who knows if either one of them will ever figure it out. It is better for the Chiefs to hold as many cards as they can at the position.

 

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