It’s funny to see everybody freak out about the new five-year extension that Pittsburgh Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey received on Thursday when they don’t really know or understand the original details, of which there are few.
First, Pro Football Talk reports that Pouncey’s signing bonus was $13 million. It sounds like that, along with whatever he will make in 2014 is the only thing that was guaranteed. We’ll see.
Just to be clear, Pouncey was scheduled to earn a $1,288,375 base salary in 2014 and a roster bonus of $2.75 million. If both of those numbers weren’t massaged as part of the extension, that likely means that Pouncey will earn $17.038 million in 2014. (UPDATE: Those numbers appear to have been massaged.)
PFT also reports that Pouncey has non-guaranteed roster bonuses that he can earn in March of 2015 and 2016. In PFT’s original report, they stated that the March roster bonus in 2016 is $3.5 million. That’s not guaranteed folks and presumably the same goes for his 2016 base salary. That base salary, judging by the early reports is $3.5 million.
The yearly amortization of Pouncey’s $13 million signing bonus is only $2.6 million. In other words, should they have to release him prior to paying him his 2016 roster bonus, they will have a $7.8 million in dead money to eat. However, if that were to happen, he more than likely would be designated as a post June 1 cut and that would mean a $2.6 million dead money charge in 2016 followed by a $5.2 million dead money charge in 2017. That’s not a lot of liability.
