top 10 in guaranteed money, 8 qbs & 2 "best defenders"

This is just one one way of putting the key issue:

. https://deadspin.com/why-only-the-nfl-doesnt-guarantee-contracts-1797020799

One other factor that keeps owners from doling out guarantees is an arcane CBA rule mandating that any fully guaranteed money be placed into escrow at the time of signing. This means that even if the guarantees are paid to the player over the course of one, two, or even three years, ownership still must place all of that guaranteed money into a separate bank account.

This has come up before because some consider it an arcane rule which limits guaranteed contracts in the NFL, and there’s noise that the rule will be challenged when the new CBA gets negotiated. So it gets discussed.

This is the rule itself.

Section 9. Funding of Deferred and Guaranteed Contracts: The NFL may require that by a prescribed date certain, each Club must deposit into a segregated account the present value, calculated using the Discount Rate, less $2,000,000, of deferred and guaranteed compensation owed by that Club with respect to Club funding of Player Contracts involving deferred or guaranteed compensation; provided, however, that with respect to guaranteed contracts, the amount of unpaid compensation for past or future services to be included in the funding calculation shall not exceed seventy-five (75%) percent of the total amount of the contract compensation. The present value of any future years’ salary payable to a player pursuant to an injury guarantee provision in his NFL Player Contract(s), shall not be considered owed by a Club under this Section until after the Club has acknowledged that the player’s injury qualifies him to receive the future payments.

What I missed was the 75% but it doesn’t apply in this case. Since the total contract (which starts in 2019) is 135 M, 75% of that is 101 M, so that the 85 M in combined guarantees and bonus money (87 M -2 M) is less that 75%, so again that doesn’t apply.

That;s hefty on -hand cash of the kind SK could come up with and Davis couldn’t. And that was one of the key points that was being made.

. In fact if you total the guarantees for recent Rams contracts, it’s a lot.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-rams-donald-plaschke-20180831-story.html
Not only do the Rams now have the highest-paid defensive player in history, they also have the highest-paid running back in Todd Gurley. When you throw in the signings of receiver Brandin Cooks and tackle Rob Havenstein, Kroenke agreed to pay $198.7 million in guaranteed contracts that could wind up being a $306-million payout.