Wednesday’s stunning news in the NFL arose from the Chiefs trading receiver Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins. Miami promptly gave Hill the kind of contract the Chiefs wouldn’t.
Initial reports regarding the new agreement included some discrepancies as to length and amount. We knew the truth eventually would become available. It has. Here are the actual details regarding the deal.
1. Signing bonus: $25.5 million.
2. 2022 base salary: $1.035 million, fully guaranteed.
3. 2023 offseason roster bonus: $10 million, fully guaranteed.
4. 2023 base salary: $16 million, fully guaranteed.
5. 2024 base salary: $19.665 million, fully guaranteed by March 2023.
6. 2025 offseason roster bonus: $1 million.
7. 2025 base salary: $21.835 million.
8. 2026 offseason roster bonus: $1 million.
9. 2026 base salary: $43.9 million.
10. 2022-26 workout bonuses: $100,000 per year.
11. 2022-26 Pro Bowl incentive: $250,000 per year.
The deal pays out $52.535 million fully guaranteed at signing, with another $19.665 million fully guaranteed by March 2023.
Described by some as a four-year, $120 million extension, the inflated compensation package of $45 million for the final year of the deal helps get the contract to a new-money average of $30 million. Remove that season (it undoubtedly will be removed), and it’s a three-year, $75 million extension. That equates to a new-money average of $25 million.
In all, it’s a five-year, $140.435 million deal but, as a practical matter, a four-year, $95.435 million contract. The first three years are essentially guaranteed; the only way to avoid paying him $72.2 million through 2024 would be to cut him after one season, at a total expenditure of $52.535 million.
It’s a deal the Dolphins were willing to do, along with giving up five draft picks to do it. The Chiefs were more willing to take the picks and keep the cash and cap space, even if it meant giving up one of the most dangerous non-quarterbacks in the entire league.