Plan For Your NFL Client Being Cut

The NFL has a lot of money and its owners have been sharing more of it with their players.

It happens all the time.  A player is signed to a high priced multi-year contract only to be cut way before the contract expires.  Most of the money that was displayed with awe in the major papers at signing was never seen by your client.  But just because NFL players do not see guaranteed contracts does not mean that you should not be trying to guarantee as much money as possible.

In my In-Depth Look At The Nate Clements Deal (oh wait…it was just a glance), I mentioned that while everyone is flabbergasted by the whopping $80 million deal, only $22 million is guaranteed (jeez…I just said only $22 million).  That does not mean that all players are only getting 1/4 of their salary guaranteed, however.  Take for instance, Adalius Thomas, who just signed a $35 million 5-year contract with New England that has $20 million of it guaranteed!  That’s over half of the contract guaranteed (much more security percentage-wise than Clements).

In fact, John Clayton reports that overall, guarantees within free agent contracts this year have doubled, largely due to the salary cap expanding $14 million over the past 2-years.  Players love more guaranteed money.  Agents love more guaranteed money.  Anyone who thinks logically at all would rather have guaranteed money than speculative money in the bank.

Cheers to the NFL, and cheers to being an NFL agent (eventually).

-Darren Heitner