He was the first to break the barrier when the Rams gave him a six-year, $135 million contract extension with $86.892 million of guarantees.
News about a possible Donald retirement was revealed by NBC Sports’ Rodney Harrison in the Super Bowl LVI pregame broadcast.
Watt, the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year, currently has that distinction with the four-year, $112.011 million extension, averaging $28,002,750 per year, he signed as the start of the 2021 regular season was approaching.
Rams general manager Les Snead acknowledged about a month ago that the plan was to come up with a “win-win” solution with Donald allowing the team to compete at the highest level.
Donald has three years remaining on his contract worth $55 million, which includes a $5 million second day of the 2022 league year roster bonus that was earned on March 17.
Typically, the existing deal isn’t ripped like a player wasn’t already under contract and replaced with a new one when there is a significant amount of time remaining.
Proposing a new five-year contract for a $150 million will likely get dismissed pretty quickly by the Rams. Since Donald has $50 million remaining in his three existing contract years because the March roster bonus has already been earned, the Rams would view this deal as a two-year, $100 million extension averaging $50 million per year.
David Canter, Howard’s agent, took issue with a suggestion on social media that Howard wouldn’t be happy with Browns cornerback Denzel Ward just signing a five-year, $100.5 million extension.
The Cardinals addressed All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins’ contract with three years for $39.915 million remaining in 2020 several months after acquiring him from the Texans.
The only way to know the parties intent in these negotiations would be to have access to the proposals that were exchanged to know how the offers were being characterized.
He would be justified in insisting that he get the same $80 million for the existing three years if two new years running through 2026 are added.
Since the $5 million has already been earned, it can’t become part of the signing bonus Donald would receive in an extension and prorated over the life of the contract, up to a maximum of five years, to help lower his current $26.75 million 2022 salary cap number.
A benefit of this structure is the cap numbers in the initial years are more manageable because an option bonus is prorated over the life of a contract up to a maximum of five years, including the option years, beginning in the league year when the option is exercised.
One way to fit a two-year extension into these constraints would be for Donald to get a $20 million signing bonus where his 2022 base salary drops to a fully guaranteed $1.25 million, whereas $4 million of 2022 cap space would be created.
The 2026 season would be an option year that would be picked up during a small window in the first couple of days of the 2023 league year next March.
This $27.5 million would be guaranteed for injury at signing and become fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2023 league year.
Five million of the $19.5 million these years could be $5 million second day of league year roster bonuses, like in the latter years of Donald’s existing contract.
There would $47.5 million fully guaranteed at signing consisting of the $20 million signing bonus, $25 million option bonus and $1.25 million base salaries in 2022 and 2023.
Kupp stated on Tuesday that he’s looking for something fair and doesn’t need to reset an exploding wide receiver market.
The Rams won the battle in a contest of wills during the 2017 preseason when Donald ended his lengthy holdout as a three-year veteran right before the regular season began without getting a new contract.