The Morning According to Us

NFL player contracts are heavy on numbers, not on guarantees.

Getty Images

"It ain't McGrady-money, but I won't starve."

When ESPN reporter Tim Graham talked with NFL vet, and newly out-of-work Vonnie Holliday yesterday, it offered a perfect example of the NFL contract structure.

"There's no loyalty in this league," Holliday told Graham after he learned he'd been dumped by Miami. "Everybody throws that word around, but at the end of the day, it's a business. It's about numbers.

"I've seen it happen in this business before. I've been around a long time. Now I'm that guy. But I have no hard feelings towards the Dolphins."

Graham writes about the dumping of a team captain, which was a classic cap-saver by Miami—it's a move to clear cash. Holliday was due a $1.5 million roster bonus on Tuesday, so he was gone on Monday. His salary-cap number for this season would have been $5.75 million. Now, sayanora.

Stories like this dominate the NFL off-season. But there are also what appear to be huge money deals, reported as such, that are ultimately a lot smaller. Just ask poor Vonnie. For example, the "bank-breaking" deal for Albert Haynesworth that the Redskins tossed out last week reportedly could rise to $115 million if all incentives are met. Seems massive in a league where guys are carted off weekly. But we'd give better odds on Kobayashi choking on a hot dog than we would on Big Al to hit that total. The deal gives just $41 million in guarantees. That's no small number, but to consider that NBA players like Raef Lafrentz, Stephon Marbury and Tracy McGrady are carrying around guaranteed money worth about $20 million for this one season of mostly inactivity, you can see the difference.

When Grant Hill signed a mega-deal with Orlando years back, the team was on the hook for it all, even though Grant's ankle spent more time under the knife than Michael Jackson's nose. In the NFL, all big deals are mostly imagined. Players rarely if ever finish out a deal before being cut in a cost-saving move, or re-negotiating for something longer, and for one last guarantee. So yesterday when T.J. Houshmandzadeh, 31, inked with Seattle, some fans immediately decried the "$40 million" deal for the veteran.

But again, it has guarantees totaling just $15 million.

Marbury would've called that playing, er, sitting for a discount.

Elsewhere…

Gunmen in Pakistan open fire on a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricket players.

Meet the Italian soccer team, and its coach, secretary, and doctor, all with the same name.

Texas man on second salt-water fishing trip catches an 11-foot, 1,149-pound shark.

Ever vaulted through an airport ceiling? These guys have.

Pulling a car with your eyelids is as hard as it appears (and sounds).

Print Article . Email Article. Subscribe to The Magazine