The details are excellent
The Buffalo Bills officially announced the new four-year contract for Stefon Diggs on Thursday and the receiver met the media with Diggs’s daughter telling general manager Brandon Beane “show me the money.” It was adorable, but at roughly the same time the details were starting to come out.
Via Pro Football Talk, we now have the full details of the Diggs extension and I’ve got to say it’s masterful. There’s a good chance Diggs could see all six years. There’s no bloated final year to bring up the average annual value and no poison pill roster bonus down the line that necessitates a messy divorce. Diggs said he wants to retire with the Bills in his press conference, and this contract makes that an actual possibility.
With two years left on his existing deal, the Bills could have ripped up the contract and started over or just completely rework those two years. They chose the latter, adding four years and $96 million to the $25 million Diggs had remaining on the final two years of his contract. The result is a six-year contract with an average annual salary around $21 million.
Instead of making $12.775 million and $12.85 million in cash over the next two years, Buffalo shifted a bunch of money near the start of the contract in the form of a signing bonus and a 2023 option bonus which will spread out the cap hits. That will virtually double his cash payouts over the next two years from $25.6 million to $49 million.
Diggs gets a $21.5 million signing bonus in 2022 as part of $50 million in fully guaranteed money. His 2022 and 2023 salaries and bonuses are all fully guaranteed, but nothing is currently guaranteed beyond that.
As they did in huge contracts for Josh Allen, Von Miller, and even Dion Dawkins, the Bills added an option bonus in year two of the deal. That allows the Bills to convert cash payments to a new “signing bonus” and pro-rate the cap hit over five seasons. The first two years have low cap hits before the pain starts to accelerate in the third season. Between all those contract mentioned above, that’s going to allow the team to stay financially competitive for multiple seasons before needing to pay the piper.
Like we said earlier, the cap hits are relatively team-friendly as the contract ages, which allows for that flexibility for general manager Brandon Beane down the line. It also makes it more likely that Diggs will stay.
There was a report of incentives available to push the new money north of $100 million, but those weren’t included in the filing of the contract, per Mike Florio. They could still be there and not listed as an oversight, he says. In any case, they would probably be labeled as Not Likely To Be Earned in 2022.
Here are the yearly breakdowns. We’ve gone ahead and pro-rated the 2023 option bonus.
2022
Old signing bonus: $4,356,111
New signing bonus: $4.3 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $2.575 million (fully guaranteed)
Cap hit: $11,736,111
2023
Old signing bonus: $4,356,111
New signing bonus: $4.3 million
Option bonus: $3.2 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $7.91 million (fully guaranteed)
Cap hit: $20,271,111
2024
New signing bonus: $4.3 million
Option bonus: $3.2 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $18.5 million (fully guarantees March 2024)
Cap hit: $26.505 million
Dead cap: $25.7 million
2025
New signing bonus: $4.3 million
Option bonus: $3.2 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $18 million ($3.5 million fully guarantees March 2025)
Cap hit: $26.005 million
Dead cap: $18.2 million
Cap savings if cut: $7.8 million
2026
New signing bonus: $4.3 million
Option bonus: $3.2 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $19.092 million
Cap hit: $27.097 million
Dead cap: $10.7 million
Cap savings if cut: $16.4 million
2027
Option bonus: $3.2 million
Roster bonus: $3 million
Workout bonus: $250,000
Per-game roster bonus: $255,000 ($15,000 per game)
Base salary: $14.495 million
Cap hit: $21.2 million
Dead cap: $3.2 million
Cap savings if cut: $18 million