gardener deal is done:saves phins 2.3 m

[jd13]

according to kffl the deal is done...we save 2.3m against the cap...gardener will get the money back thru incentives...he has to play between 39-55% of the defensive plays...if not he will still receive the money thru an insurance policy...

 

[Bodzilla29]

Dolphins | Gardener - Deal Done - posted at KFFL (http://nfl.kffl.com)
20:26 PT: Updating a story from last night, John Clayton reports for ESPN the Miami Dolphins were able to complete a contract restructuring with DL Daryl Gardener Wednesday. He agreed to a restructuring that reduced his $5.27 million base salary. The team gave him enough money to purchase an insurance policy that would pay him the difference of his salary reduction if he doesn't play between 39 and 55 percent of the offensive downs. The team saved $2.3 million of cap room and did not have to prorate signing bonus money eating up future caps.

The most important part of that whole deal is the last sentance, bar none!!! "The team saved $2.3 million of cap room and did not have to prorate signing bonus money eating up future caps. " That is EXCELLANT news, making tis a ssincerely great deal.

The cap relief without the risk of eating the prorated bonus is more than I was hoping for!

 

[Dolfan984]

We have about 3.5 mil cap room to fool around with.

 

[DIRTYCASHHOLDIN]

Dolphin brass, agent for Gardener....

The Dolphins have been asking Daryl to restrucure his contract for quite some time...and finally....this week....only week before the draft....he agrees. His agent, NEIL SCHWARTZ....has to be commended as well.

He apparently was the one who figured out a way...where both sides can be happy. SCWARTZ was the one who reccommended the insurance policy to cover both the team...from getting hurt, salary-cap wise....as he agreed to many attainable incentive-laden clauses for DG to meet...and that would have to happen by him staying healthy enough to attain them. On the other hand....he protected GARDENER with an inusrance policy...meaning that if he got hurt...and did not reach the incentives in his contract....then of course...he does not get paid them....by the DOlphins that is. But the insurance policy is now Gardener's silent partner so to speak.....if he does not stay healthy enough....and misses games...he will nonetheless be able to make a claim and get monetary contract-compensation....through this policy.

The Dolphins gave enough money up-front...for DG to go ahead and take out this insurance policy....and quite frankly....this whole deal is an absolute stroke of creativity, and genius....

Whether its making players put away some of their money away in Trust funds....like they asked Madison to do...or offering enough money to protect themselves and their players against monetary damages......the Dolphin Brass is leading the way for other teams....to circumvent the salary cap.....in a very creative, and Legal matter. Its a matter of them having and developing excellent relationships with these agents....like a NEIL SCWARTZ....who had previously said no to the Dolphins on this restructuring deal...at least 2 times. Then....all of a sudden.....he and the Dolphins find this creative way to help out the team and DG......with great timing....right before the draft.

The Dolphins and SCWARTZ just cleared up 2.3 million dollars....in a great show of teamwork today....and both sides should be applauded. When the league sees the paperwork for this re-structuring....they are probably going to roll there eyes in amazement.

The Dolphins have enough money to go out and get somebody right now.... and I think they will add somebody....whether it be a punter or OL.....or even Scott Galyon....within the next couple of days.

The Dolphins now must draft a DL .....there is no question that the losses of both Mixon and Bromell...have hurt. The Dolphins need a young guy that they can work with....and they also need a nice veteran pick-up as well.

DCH

 

[VanDolPhan]

Re: Dolphin brass, agent for Gardener....

Originally posted by DIRTYCASHHOLDIN

The Dolphins have enough money to go out and get somebody right now.... and I think they will add somebody....whether it be a punter or OL.....or even Scott Galyon....within the next couple of days.

The Dolphins now must draft a DL .....there is no question that the losses of both Mixon and Bromell...have hurt. The Dolphins need a young guy that they can work with....and they also need a nice veteran pick-up as well.

DCH

Couldn't agree with you more. In fact I am hoping it's Blake at LT. That should hopefully decrease the pressure in drafting an OL completely cause we can always sign a low cost veteran/career backup on the line later on and worry about drafting youth on the line next year.

So the real question comes down to that 3rd rounder. DE or TE in the 3rd with the other being picked up in the 4th. Then with the 5th rounder we can either pick up a LB or OL then hopefully still be able to pick up one of those 2 punters with the compensatory pick. Then with our last pick in the 7th it's a crap shoot. Probably pick the best available player.

The dolphins MUST find at least one starter out of this draft and two solid contributers which is going to be hard with only 5 picks (one of those being a late 7th).

 

[JeffJewell]

Good news and bad news...

...the good news, obviously, is the extra cap room. I agree with those applauding Neil Schwartz for finding the way to ensure DG gets paid but the Dolphins don't get stuck if there's a season-ending injury.

The bad news is that it appears I was right: DG didn't want to restructure in the first place based largely on that fact that he was concerned that his career is nearly over due to his back. You've got to temper enthusiam for the restructure with the tacit admission that DG doesn't believe he'll finish this season.

Jeff

 

[dolphan39]

here the Herald article http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/sports/football/nfl/miami_dolphins/3039322.htm

this is truly a bizarre cap loophole :eek:

why not give re-neg/ w/Zach that if he get over 10 tackles he get a $1 mil bonus and over 20 another mil and so on.

I will be very suprised if other teams do not catch on and starting do this same sort of deal since it involved such as small portion of current year bonus ($350K).

Of course, this is 1 more chunk of change will be paying for in 2003 so we better win it all in 2002 :evil:

 

[iceblizzard69]

Wait, if a player reaches an incentive point, does it count against the cap? Because if it doesn't, they should give players 750K a year and if they get 1 tackle they would earn millions lol in the case of Zach Thomas.

 

[dolphan39]

Originally posted by iceblizzard69
Wait, if a player reaches an incentive point, does it count against the cap? Because if it doesn't, they should give players 750K a year and if they get 1 tackle they would earn millions lol in the case of Zach Thomas.

it counts ag. next year's cap :confused:

 

[EddieIrvine13]

so basically, they took the 2.3 million and set it against next years cap pending gardener reaches his incentives? i like this idea of signing guys to long term deals, but i hope we are not screwin ourselves here. by doing this, we really cant cut anyone when we konw they are signed over a long period of time especoially cuz their signing bonus is huge cuz we spread it out each year to make room. hopefully the cap will go up a lot (i heard otherwise) otherwise, we have very little flexibility!