Salary Cap Administration 101 by Stephen Jones

Nobody is harder on Cuzzin Jerruh than Old Long Ball . . . however, I will have to give Sonny-Boy Stephen credit for being a "Salary Cap Wizard"! I don't know how many teams could have taken a $10 million (el toro de caca) salary cap hit from the NFL and come out smellin' like a rose!

Here are the details of the Brandon Carr deal:

Carr received a $10 million signing bonus and is due $26.5 million guaranteed.

His base salaries are as follows:

2012: $1.2 million
2013: $14.3 million
2014: $7.5 million
2015: $8 million
2016: $9.1 million

So, with a $10 million bonus spread across 5 years, his salary cap impact in 2012 is $3.2 million . . . not bad for a starting CB who may have to guard a certain WR from Detroit making almost $20 million per year! And you know that next year they will "bonus out" (renegotiate) that $14.3 million for 2013 and spread it a little thinner.

As for their other free agency "wheelin's and dealin's", here are the rest, minus former Carolina ILB Dan Connor (details to come) who recently agreed to terms:

QB Kyle Orton - 3 years, $10.5 million, $5 million signing bonus
2012 -- $900,000
2013 -- $1.35 million
2014 -- $3.25 million

2012 salary cap impact - $2.567 million

OG Mackenzy Bernadeau - 4 years, $11 million, $3.25 million signing bonus
2012 -- $1 million
2013 -- $1.75 million
2014 -- $2.25 million
2015 -- $2.75 million

2012 salary cap impact - $1.8125 million

(Bernadeau has incentives that can take the deal to $14 million total.)

FB Lawrence Vickers - 2 years, $2.4 million, $200,000 signing bonus
2012 -- $800,000
2013 -- $1.2 million

2012 salary cap impact - $900K

SS Brodney Pool - 1 year, $1.2 million, $100,000 signing bonus
2012 -- $1.1 million

2012 salary cap impact - $1.2 million

Total 2012 salary cap impact = $9,679,167 (that would be right boys, less than $10 million for 4 potential starters plus the all important #2 QB thus far) . . . I'll update as soon as I know Connor's numbers!