Potential salary cap ramifications regarding the Will Hill situation

I tweeted Joel Corry this morning asking him if a player's salary is guaranteed if he's on the 53-man roster on week 1 if he has less than 4 years of accrued experience? He said that it is not (see below):

Jason Fitzgerald further drove home the point about younger players--specifically those with less than 4 years of accrued experience--being used more frequently on rosters during times of roster upheaval on account of their decreased cap value:

The reason I asked this is because I'm trying to determine how the Giants' 2013 salary cap would be affected if Hill does in fact make the team. There are two scenarios: one in which Hill makes the team despite his 4-game suspension to start the year, and one in which he does not.


If Hill doesn't make the team...

then the answer is simple. They would be rid of his bonus free contract, in which his 2013 cap charge of $480,000 comes completely off the books, which in turn renders this post null and void. There would be no dead money on the books at all if they cut him, wiping Hill cleanly away cap-wise. Safeties Ryan Mundy and Cooper Taylor--the former being a veteran, an the latter being a rookie--help to make the Giants' decision easier with regard to letting go of Hill, if in fact that is what happens. I suspect that the Giants knew of this for a while, making the drafting of Taylor and the signing of Smith more logical.

• The cap hit in 2013 for Mundy is $620,000--a difference of $140,00 on the negative cost side between Hill's $480,000 cap number.
• The cap hit in 2013 for Cooper Taylor is $451,813--a difference of $28,187 on the positive savings side between Hill's $480,000 cap number.

If Hill does make the team...

then things become interesting. This is why I asked the question I did at the top of this post. A player who plays the same position as Hill with less than 4 years worth of accrued experience--like Tyler Sash for instance (who only has 2 years of accrued experience)--could take his spot on the roster, while Hill is serving his 4-game suspension to start the 2013 season. In that case, since players are paid over the course of 17 weeks in the NFL, only 4/17ths of Sash's base salary ($130,588) would count against the cap, while 13/17ths of Hill's base salary for 2013 ($367,059) would count against the cap, as per Jason Fitzgerald's tweet to me after I asked him yesterday:

Such a situation would cost the Giants approximately $37,317 in added cap room. this figure is obtained by subtracting Hill's salary and cap number for 2013 (that doesn't include any bonus money) of $480,000 from the sum of the figures in the previous paragraph about Hill's and Sash's adjusted base salaries totaling $497,647. The difference would be $17,647. I then added the bonus money, which becomes dead money from Sash for 2013, which is $19,670. (Another $19,670 is added on to the Giants' dead money in 2014 in this scenario). This gives me the total of $37,317 stated above.

Any way you slice it, if Hill makes the team, the player who'll take his roster spot on the opening day 53-man roster would have to have less than 4 years of accrued experience, in order to minimize cap costs. Credit goes to Patricia Traina of insidefootball.com and BBI poster fkap for informing me about this salary cap nuance about players with less than 4 years of accrued not having their contracts guaranteed for a full year even if they make an opening day roster (see this thread here for discussion on the matter: BBI thread - Will Hill Suspended 4 Games - jintz4life : 7/20/2013 2:05 pm).

This could open the door for players with less than 4 years of accrued experience to make the opening day roster, should Hill make the team. Players who fit into this category would also need to be able to play Special Teams, since that is what backup safeties like Will Hill have to do. Players who fit this description that are on the Giants' 90-man roster now include (3rd year S) Tyler Sash, (UDFA rookie LB) Etienne Sabino, (2nd year LB) Jake Muasau, (UDFA rookie S) Alonzo Tweedy, & (2nd year DB) Laron Scott.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. It wouldn't be shocking to see Hill just be cut outright if he doesn't come to camp and shine during July and August, as well as in preseason games. He should at least be able to prove himself valuable on STs, as he did last year. My hunch right now is that they keep him. 3 Giants' safeties are vulnerable next year: Rolle because if his exceedingly high cap number, Stevie Brown because he'll be an unrestricted free agent next year, and Ryan Mundy because he'll also be an unrestricted free agent next year. This is why the Giants need to inject some youth at the position.

Getting rid of Hill would go against the Giants' forward thinking philosophy. They drafted Taylor this year. He and Hill would help the Giants to get younger at the Safety position, while being inexpensive, AND cost controlled--not something to take lightly in today's salary cap dominated league. The Giants will need all the space they can get in the upcoming 2 or 3 years due to the impending second contracts for Hakeem Nicks and JPP having a more profound impact on the Giants' salary cap in future years--assuming of course that the Giants sign them. Just like the catchphrase of HBO's "The Wire", everything is connected. Stay tuned.