Several NFL players are on contracts containing language stating that they’ll get a full or partial salary guarantee for the 2016 season if they remained on their respective teams beyond the third day after this year’s Super Bowl. That third day came and went on Wednesday, and while not every player with a guarantee deadline locked in that money – Nate Allen was cut by the Raiders, while Dannell Ellerbe reworked his deal with New Orleans – most of those guys had their contracts remain untouched.
Per Joel Corry of CBSSports.com, here are the players who were assured of full or partial salary guarantees for 2016 after remaining under contract on Wednesday:
- Drew Brees, QB (Saints): $10.85MM of $19.75MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. This gives Brees a little extra leverage in contract negotiations with the Saints, but doesn’t drastically change his outlook — he’ll be back in New Orleans next season, likely with an extension in hand.
- Joe Haden, CB (Browns): $10.1MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. Concussion issues wiped out most of the 2015 season for Haden, but he was in no real danger of being cut before this amount – previously guaranteed for injury only – became fully guaranteed.
- Jairus Byrd, S (Saints): $7.4MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. So far, Byrd hasn’t exactly lived up to the massive deal he signed with New Orleans two years ago, but there’s still so much dead money left on it that it makes sense for the team to keep him around.
- Curtis Lofton, LB (Raiders): $3.5MM of $5.35MM base salary for 2016 now fully guaranteed. Lofton’s first year in Oakland certainly wasn’t his best, and the Raiders could’ve cleared his entire salary from their books if they’d cut him along with Allen, but the team has so much excess cap room that it can afford to bring back the veteran linebacker and hope for a better season.
While there are a few more contract guarantees to keep an eye on in February, including several for Seahawks players, most guarantee dates arrive in March, at – or shortly after – the start of the new league year. So we shouldn’t expect to see many teams cutting players to narrowly beat those guarantee deadlines for at least a few more weeks.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.