The Philadelphia Eagles secured an important part of their offense on Thursday, as the team announced that they struck a new deal with running back LeSean McCoy.
According to Pro Football Talk, the deal is for five years and $45 million, with a signing bonus of $8.5 million. As for base salaries McCoy will get $615 thousand in 2012, $3.25 million in 2013, $8 million in 2014, $10.25 million in 2015, $7.15 million in 2016 and $7.85 million in 2017.
The key period of time in this contract is the offseason prior to 2014. With McCoy set to make $8 million that year (a significant step up from his $3.25 million base in 2013), if McCoy doesn’t perform in 2012 and 2013 up to the standards set by this contract, the Eagles could cut him and save money as by then, only $5.1 million is left to be counted against the cap.
The NFL spreads signing bonuses over the length of the contract. With McCoy’s being $8.5 million, $1.7 million would count against the cap each year. If McCoy was cut the remaining signing bonus is counted against that year. His full cap number for 2014 is his $8 million base, plus the $1.7 million prorated bonus, for $9.7 million total.
