Many Buffalo Bills fans, including running back Fred Jackson himself, are excited over the fact that the Bills signed Jackson to a two-year extension, tying him to the team for another three years. However, with the way the contract is setup, Jackson could be one and done.
Jackson’s contract included a $3 million signing bonus along with a total base salary for 2013 and 2014 of $8.7 million. The base could increase to $11 million with playing incentives. That sounds good, but people are forgetting one thing and that is the way they handle the salary cap.
The Bills are definitely not the Washington Redskins or Dallas Cowboys who throw money around like water and take advantage of all the rules of the salary cap. Instead, the Bills apply a cash to cap system, which accounts for all money paid out that year against their cap.
The NFL’s salary cap allows teams to go over the cap in actual dollars to sign players, by prorating the signing bonus over the life of the contract. With the Bills, they count all of the signing bonus that year. For example, in the NFL system Jackson’s $3 million signing bonus only accounts for $1 million a year for the next three years while in the Bills system it applies the whole $3 million this year.
That means that if Jackson doesn’t perform well this year the Bills can cut him without owing him anything after the 2012 season. If you don’t believe it, ask former Bills cornerback Drayton Florence who signed a new three year $15 contract in July of 2011 only to be cut this month.
The fact of the matter is that they already have Jackson’s potential replacement on the roster in 2010 first round pick C.J. Spiller. Spiller ran for 446 yards and scored three touchdowns in six starts after Jackson went down for the year in week 11 last year.
In the end, if Jackson doesn’t continue to outperform Spiller, and have another MVP-type season like last year, he could be gone after one year.
