Never ever believe NFL contract details upon first report. Ever.
Some Redskins fans freaked out when reports showed Washington signed safety Landon Collins to a six-year, $84 million on the first day of the legal tampering period on Monday.
By Monday night, details of the contract emerged, and the terms look much less intimidating.
Landon Collins' $84M deal: $15M signing bonus, $6M option bonus for 2024 year to be exercised between first and fifth day of 2020, $44.5M total gtd, salaries; $1M (gtd), $10M (gtd), $12.5M (gtd for inj at signing, full gtd fifth 20201, $11.5M, $12.5M, $13.5M
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) March 12, 2019
The reality of the deal is that Washington got Collins signed to a three-year contract worth up to $45 million, with two seasons fully guaranteed. The injury guarantees rarely come up, although that is obviously in play with the Redskins and Alex Smith. There is $15 million in signing bonus money that gets spread out over five seasons too.
The better news for the Redskins - Washington did not crush their cap room for 2019.
Collins will count for just $4 million against the Redskins cap in 2019, and for a team tight against the salary limit, that's a huge bonus.
By the Redskins building out a deal that had positive terms on the front end of the contract allows Bruce Allen and the 'Skins brass to keep looking to add free agents this offseason.
Washington can still release some other veteran players and create more cap space, but now, they don't have to. Before the Collins signing, the Skins had a little more than $13 million in cap space.
Adding Collins makes the defense better, and still leaves around $9 million in cap space.
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