lol, no, I'm not the one that doesn't understand. You are the one that doesn't understand. Allow me to explain to you how bonuses work...
A signing bonus, by definition, is what it is... its called a SIGNING bonus. Its paid WHEN YOU SIGN. That's why its called a SIGNING bonus.
Joe's SIGNING bonus was last season, and it was $40M. At the time I originally posted this, I assumed that the entire signing bonus was paid at that time, because it normally was (much in the way his $29M signing bonus from his original deal was paid all at once). Since then, through research (which is clearly not something you did), it appears that Joe deferred a portion of his signing bonus to 2017... $15M to be exact.
The below website, of which there are several similar one's, give a breakdown of his CASH earnings compared to his CAP earnings, which for like the 100th time on these boards, are NOT identical.
And what's laughable is that you think its OK for Joe to just slash his salary down to $1M (which I believe would actually be below the veteran minimum, so he couldn't do that anyway) as if the guy is only giving veteran minimum production. That is laughable of course.
In particular, I find it laughable when fans always ask pro athletes to take paycuts that, of course, no fan would ever actually do themselves. I would love to hear when a fan comes and says "hey guys, I slashed my salary by 50% today, so other employees I work with can make more". I'm still waiting on that to happen, but I won't, because it won't happen.
Always fun to listen to people give advice to more valuable people about what they should do with their money. Ain't spending or giving away other people's money great?
What a joke.
http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/baltimore-ravens/joe-flacco-4000/cash-earnings/
I don't know if it would be that outlandish to expect a particular employee making 15-20% of the total salary allocation to take a pay cut so the other 52 employees can share some of the money that guy eating up 15-20% of that entire pie gives up some. obviously it is a stupid analogy because a 50K guy needs 60K for survival, but a 20M guy doesn't need 20M for survival... But, importantly we cannot expect anybody that's negotiated a contracted salary to take a pay cut because they haven't performed commensurate with their remuneration. That should've been thought of prior to the contract. Having said all that, if Joe really wants the Ravens to put together a strong team around him, it wouldn't be ridiculous if he did offer to be accomodating with his salary structure or even giving up some money to hire a veteran guard or Center. But, if truth be told, even if Joe wanted to do it, Linta will not allow it.
This is all i was trying to say and then some people catch feelings on this thread and go on a rant. I just used saving $5M as an example lol. rmcjacket23 for GM 2018 folks!!!