Rickys Salary Cap Hit? | Page 4 | FinHeaven - Miami Dolphins Forums

Rickys Salary Cap Hit?

Merman said:
That's the way I understand it. A breach not void or terminated. The judgment gives the Dolphins a legal right to go after the money but they haven't yet. So if Ricky honors his contract there is no more breach. If he doesn't honor the contract then there is already an established precedent and judgment.


I understand if this were a sales or building contract there would be damages but there is some question of how the Dolphins were financially harmed.
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How can the contract be made whole? He breached the contract by retiring early which was subject to forfeit of his signing bonuses. So even by returning, the Dolphins would maintain the right to sue Williams for that money.

A possible settlement I could see coming out of this could be the Dolphins would waive their right to sue for a restructured contract and assurances Williams fulfill the particulars to the team's satisfaction.
 
What is so hard about this? He owes the Dolphins $8 Million. Take the existing contract, subtract the $8 Million from that over a 3-year period and pay him that amount. In other words, honor the existing contract while at the same time collecting the amout legally due to the Dolphins from the proceeds. He HAS to do it because he has a legal judgment against him, and we hold his rights. He can't sign with anyone else.

If he balks and declares bankruptcy, we lose nothing and he winds up in jail for failure to pay child support etc. He STILL is the property of the Dolphins and he can't sign with another team.

Make him come back ON OUR TERMS or tell him to get fitted with pinstripes.


TRADE FOR A QB
 
Philter25 said:
Wait wait wait, so if Ricky comes back, then therefore there is no breach of contract.... what about last year? Is that just a mulligan?

If his contract was breached and technically we have the right to go after his 8 million signing bonus, then therefore do we have leverage in getting ricky to restructure his contract?

IE: Restructure your contract and we will let you keep the 8 million that technically we are able to go after....
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While I hold the utmost respect for Merman, I completely disagree with him on this point. Ricky violated a clause in his contract and thus is subject to the penalties prescribed. You cant unring the bell. Returning to the Phins and completing the remainder of his contract does not erase the fact that he failed to report in 2004. Of course the Phins can choose to not pursue the money, but if they do choose to pursue, even if Ricky returns and gains 2000 yds, he still owes the 8.6 mill.
 
yankeehillbilly said:
While I hold the utmost respect for Merman, I completely disagree with him on this point. Ricky violated a clause in his contract and thus is subject to the penalties prescribed. You cant unring the bell. Returning to the Phins and completing the remainder of his contract does not erase the fact that he failed to report in 2004. Of course the Phins can choose to not pursue the money, but if they do choose to pursue, even if Ricky returns and gains 2000 yds, he still owes the 8.6 mill.
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Thank you for the respect and it is mutual.

$8.6 million is inequitable and just makes no sense for not playing for one year if the contract is completed.

Consider that Ricky was to make a minimum base salary and incentives.The original base salaries were $450k in 2002 and $535k in 2003, which totals $985k. The Dolphins are intitled to $5.3 million of incentive bonus paid to date if Ricky does not return. $3.3 million of unamortized signing bonus that the Saints paid.

I know you understand this I am making the point for others reading this thread.

At this point we will have to wait for further information to be reported and see how it plays out.



BTW I was going over my documentation of Ricky Williams and realized I made a mistake about Steinberg allowing the clause in Ricky's contract.


Letter filed, Ricky retired
By Joe Schad The Palm Beach Post
Tuesday, August 03, 2004
DAVIE  Ricky Williams is officially retired and he cannot play in the NFL this season.


The Dolphins could attempt to recover $8 million from Williams, including $4.7 million in incentives and a $3.3 million signing bonus. The Dolphins' case stems from a clause in the contract they inherited from New Orleans when they traded for Williams, which states that his team can recover money if terms of the agreement aren't fulfilled.
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I think its going to depend on the exact wording of the contract. If the clause comes into effect if Ricky "fails to fulfill the contract" then it could be argued that Ricky would be off the hook as soon as he eventually did fulfill the terms of the deal.
However, if the wording is more like "fails at any time to report" then I think there would be a strong argument that Ricky owes the money regardless of when/if he returns.
I do remember that around the time that the court upheld the arbiter's decision, some contract lawyer opined that the 8.6mill was due even if Ricky returned in 2005. He had no part in the actual case, just some lawyer that one of the papers got to give a legal opinion.
Time will tell
 
Talking about contract language and future events:

Q.

Hey Jason just a couple more quick questions...What would happen if Ricky failed another drug test? What will his cap # be if he does make the team? If he does make it...then who gets cut? Gordon?,Morris?,Minor? What happened to Leonard Henry? Has he recovered from that devastating hamstring pull yet? Hypothetically,let's say Ricky comes back...Brown gets hurt in week 3. Ricky steps in and runs for 1,000 yards and we end up 9-7 but miss the playoffs.What do you do in the offseason? -Thanx J
Jim, Tampa 5/20/05

A.

He gets a year suspension, minimum, for another failed test. The Dolphins believe he will count as $540,000 against the cap. We'll see in September after training camp. Don't know about Henry. Under the scenario, I probably keep Ricky.
Jason Cole 5/20/05
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If true then the breach not only demands repayment of all bonuses but loss of future paragraph 5 salary based on bonus earned. The Dolphins would have no need for a renegotiated contract. Punishment is already included in the deal. This contract couldn't be more one sided unless he also loses all rights to earn future bonuses.

If Ricky thought he should have earned more before he retired he will probably be very unhappy when he realizes this.

If Ricky still has the right to earn incentives at the same amount and he has another year like 2002 with 1853 rushing yards, 47 receptions and 16 TDs that supposedly earned him $2.1 million he would earn $2.640 million in 2005.
Last I read Edgerrin James was unhappy about his $8.1 million one year franchise deal after a contract year of 1549 rushing yards, 51 receptions and 9 TDs.

Again if true this whole situation is going to turn into a fiasco. It has happened time and time again if a team takes too much advantage of a player it ends badly.
 
How can his contract still be legit. Once you break a contract it is broken and that is why he owes us 8 million anyways. So why wouldnt he have to get a whole new contract and if you ask me he still should owe the team 8 mill. Whether he came back to get a new contract or not he still broke his orginal contract which means he should still owe the money and play for us for free untill that Debt is repaid.
 
Clumpy said:
I far as I know, his previous contract would still be valid.

$3.735 million (2005)
$3.74 million (2006)
$3.5 million (2007)

Plus incentives.

I'm sure, Miami would re-work his deal in some manner though
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How on earth can a contract still be valid if the terms have already been severely broken and a judgement is in place to pay back moneys received? This contract has to be null and void; we just retain his rights and the right to negotiate a new (cheap, risk-free) contract.
 
Since he is suspended for the first four games of the season we better restructure his salary to a lower amount. If nothing else we should take his salary for those four games out of what he makes.
 
If he comes back, sits out his 4 game suspension, gets in shape, gets his head back into the game (if that's possible) and is somewhere near what he once was and say he does play out his contract would the Dolphins just drop the 8.6 million dollar judgement because IMO the judgement is just a ploy to get him to come back anyway.
After all if he never comes back what chance, realistically, would he have of actually paying the team 8.6 million?
 
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