How will Antrel Rolle missing out on a $100,000 Pro Bowl bonus affect the Giants' salary cap in 2014?

According to Art Stapleton, Rolle missed out this bonus by not making the Pro Bowl:






If this $100,000 Pro Bowl bonus that Rolle missed out on is a Likely To Be Earned bonus (LTBE), then Rolle getting snubbed from making the Pro Bowl could be good news for the Giants salary cap-wise in 2014. This would mean that they would get an extra $100,000 in cap space credited their way to work with next season.

On the other hand, if this $100,000 bonus that Rolle missed out on was Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE), then the Giants could lose $100,000 in cap space from their adjusted 2014 salary cap.

There are 4 cases which are possible. I'll describe all 4 of them below. I've already determined which one Rolle fits into, but I'll create some drama for added affect. Can you guess which category Rolle fits into form the information below?

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CASE #1:
If this bonus was NLTBE, then there will be no residual effect with respect to next year's adjusted cap because the NFL bases bonuses on performance from the previous year. Since Rolle last made the Pro Bowl in 2010 (he also made it in 2009), this bonus looks to be NLTBE.

CASE #2:
If it was NLTBE--meaning that Rolle didn't make it to the Pro Bowl last year (which he didn't)--and Rolle makes it this year (which he didn't), then the Giants would get that $100 K subtracted from their cap next year.

CASE #3:
If it was LTBE--meaning that Rolle made it to the Pro Bowl last year--and Rolle didn't make it this year, then the Giants would get that $100 K credited to their cap next year to spend.

CASE #4:
If it was LTBE--meaning that Rolle made it to the Pro Bowl last year--and Rolle made it this year (which he didn't), then there would be no residual effect with respect to next year's adjusted cap.

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Ready? If you guessed case #1, then you're a winner! Just as I thought before researching Rolle's contract information (found at spotrac.com), it turns out that he does indeed fall into category #1:

Source: Antrell Rolle's contractual breakdown, as per spotrac.com

In this case, this neither benefits nor hurts the Giants from a cap standpoint next season. I've estimated the Giants' carryover amount as of now (that I know of), as per the NFLPA's public cap report website, to be $24,947. However, there will be other NLTBE & LTBE bonuses for other players on the Giants who will factor into the team's adjusted salary cap in 2014, be it in a neutral, negative, or positive fashion cap-wise for the Giants. Scenarios like #1 and #4 will have no effect on the Giants' adjusted cap next year. Scenario #2 would result in a cap decrease, whereas scenario #3 would result in a cap increase.

The reason Rolle's Pro Bowl bonus counts as NLTBE is because the NFL uses the previous year's performance to determine what is NLTBE and what is LTBE. For example, if Rolle made the Pro Bowl last year, then he'd be considered likely to repeat it, as per the CBA, thereby making this bonus LTBE. Since he didn't make the Pro Bowl last season, then making it this season is considered NLTBE by the NFL. This is why Rolle not making the Pro Bowl this year has no effect on the Giants' cap next season. If Rolle made the Pro Bowl this year, it actually would have cost the Giants $100,000 on their adjusted salary cap next year, adjusting it "down." Jason Fitzgerald wrote about it how this language works in an excellent article titled "A Guide to the NFL Salary Cap" in the subsection subtitled "Other Bonuses." Here's the relevant excerpt below:

Source: A Guide to the NFL Salary Cap - by Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com | February 19, 2013

Players on the Giants with split salaries this season

Four players that I know of currently on the Giants' 53-man roster now have salary splits in their contracts this season: Markus Kuhn, Terrell Thomas, Ryan Nassib, & Michael Cox.

NFL Salary Splits from 2011 to 2020 (as per the current CBA between the owners & NFLPA). It factors in 3 variables. They are as follows: (1) splits in respective years, (2) accrued seasons, (3) "up" splits, & (4) "down" splits.

• Kuhn is a 7th rounder form the 2012 draft class, & has already been on the books this year (the first 6 weeks of the season) as having a split.
• When he was on the PUP list; his regular base salary numbers kicked in again once he started practicing again from week 7.
• This resulted in the first 6 weeks of the season being counted at the "down" split number for players with 1 accrued season credited towards free agency of $303,000 instead of $480,000.
• The remaining 11 weeks of the 17 week season (including the bye week), were counted at the "up" rate of $480,000.
• Kuhn's cap number went from originally being $491,474 to start the year to now being $429,003.
• The Giants gained $62,471 in extra cap space to work with as a result.
• I wrote about the salary split for Thomas back in August; click HERE to read it.
• Nassib and Cox are draft picks who figure to have splits this year; click HERE to read how Jason Fitzgerald of OverTheCap.com explained it.

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Here are the 8 players who I think also have splits, but I'm not certain about:

• Adrien Robinson & Brandon Mosley are 50/50 to have splits this year since they were 4th round picks int he 2012 draft., as Jason explained in the article I linked above form Jason. I didn't list them because I'm not sure they have them for 2013.
• DT Mike Patterson is a player I wouldn't be surprised to see have a salary split this year either considering his health history and that he signed a one-year Minimum Salary Benefit (MSB) contract.
• Rookies with no accrued years who it would be logical to assume who also have splits in their salaries currently on the Giants' 53-man roster and who were promoted from the Giants' Practice Squad to the 53-man roster are Charles James, Stephen Goodin, Marcus Dowtin, Julian Talley, & Eric Herman.

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Three players on Injured Reserve now have salary splits in their contracts this season that are currently in effect:

• Shaun Rogers - split for 8 weeks out of 17; kicked in starting week 10
• Rogers's cap number went from being $620,000 to being $508,471 after the split took effect.
• The Giants gained $111,529 in extra cap space to work with as a result.
• Brandon Jacobs - split for 3 weeks out of 16 (Jacobs was signed week 2); kicked in starting week 15
• Jacobs's cap number went from being $522,353 to being $480,530 after the split took effect.
• The Giants gained $41,823 in extra cap space to work with as a result.
• Cooper Taylor - split for 1 week out of 17; kicked in starting week 17
• Taylor's cap number went from being $451,813 to being $444,931 after the split took effect.
• The Giants gained $6,882 in extra cap space to work with as a result.

That's a total of 7 players I know who have salary splits in their contracts this year. The other 8 that I mention could push that total to 15. I'd write about these splits in more detail if I had the time to do so today, but unfortunately I don't. I'll write something up about topic breaking it down in further detail in the near future.

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NOTE:

All player cap numbers mentioned above are courtesy of the Giants' team salary cap page at OverTheCap.com, run by Jason Fitzgerald. Cooper Taylor's cap number adjustment hasn't been updated there yet, but I confirmed the correctness of the updated figure of $444,931 that I posted above with Jason via e-mail.

Please go over to Jason's page for the most up to date and comprehensive NFL salary cap news available anywhere online. Things will be sure to get interesting as we come closer and closer to the start of the off-season from a cap standpoint. Now is as a good a time as any to get started on reading up about what has already happened, what is happening, and what will and could happen from a cap standpoint.