Shane Beamer and South Carolina's Football program had quite the productive NFL Draft run this past April, as five former Gamecocks were drafted, the highest number of draftees for Carolina since the 2013 NFL Draft. Their highest NFL Draft pick, and the one that's subsequently viewed as possessing the highest long-term potential out of the draft class, is Cam Smith, who to the Miami Dolphins with the 51st overall pick in the 2nd round of the draft. When these players come into the league, they typically have a lot on their plate, as they have to move to a new home, likely far away from their family and loved ones, have to get to know their new teammates and coaches, and also get used to the complex world that is the X's and O's of the NFL. For high draft picks like Cam, however, another issue looms large: discussing the terms of their first NFL contract. These contract negotiations can take months to settle, and in some cases, have even led to some players holding out at the beginning of Training camp to get the exact terms they want. However, that will not be the case for Smith, as he agreed to a 4-year rookie deal worth 7.2 million dollars (2 mill+ signing bonus) on Wednesday, per the independent news organization MLFootball.
Smith impressed local beat writers with his performance during media-allowed portions of OTAs and mini-camp. They now want to see him with pads on in training camp against more competition to know if he’s “the real deal”.
FWIW, rookie deals don't involve any negotiation any longer really. The contract is fixed based on where the player is drafted. So that was always basicially going to be what he signed for.
I think they can still negotiate some of the financial language, like guarantees or bonus structures. But yeah, if he got $7.2M, that's what the 51st pick was going to get regardless.
Offsets and stuff, but unless he gets cut in year three, none of that really matters. And if he does we have bigger issues.
X can be cut next year with a post-June 1st designation that saves Miami $18.5MM in cap space. Cam’s going to get opportunities to demonstrate he’s capable of stepping in to replace Howard.
Kicking that can down the road us only going to keep the pain coming. But hopefully we can wait a few years where there is less dead money.
Grier has absolutely painted us into a corner being too aggressive with huge contracts. No question there.
But there's a limit on how much they're allowed to spend in any given year. You can only kick the can down the road so much before you're in huge trouble and have to tear the roster apart. For me, that's one of the worst case scenarios.
They could make a huge signing bonus and make the cap hit tiny, but again have to have owner willing to do that.
Yeah man, they do and always have. They're just spread out over the life of the contract so it doesn't hit all at once. A 20m bonus over four seasons hits at 5m per year.
As long as league revenue and the salary cap continue to grow, you can always kick the can down the road, its Wellington Economics.
