Report: Redskins Rework DeAngelo Hall's Contract, Salary No Longer Guaranteed for 2015

The Washington Redskins re-signed DeAngelo Hall in February to a 4 year, $17 million contract that could have potentially kept him in Washington for the rest of his career.  He was coming off one of his better year's with the Redskins, and wants to play here.  Then he tore his Achilles Week 3 vs Philadelphia. Hall is 31 and will turn 32 during next season, and he is entering his 12th NFL season.  An Achilles injury is rough for defensive backs who need to make quick cuts in coverage, and his age is also a factor in his recovery.  Then Hall tore his Achilles again while making a pizz at home which pushed his recovery time back even further.

DeAngelo Hall signed a four year contract extension with the Washington Redskins worth $17 million on February 19, 2014. Hall received a $3.25 million signing bonus and his $5.4 million in guarantees. $1.15 million of his 2014 salary is fully guaranteed while he will earn $1.25 million in guaranteed salary in 2015 if he is on the roster on the 14th day of the 2015 League Year. Base salaries of the contract are $1,250,000(2014), $4,000,000(2015) $4,250,000(2016), and $4,250,000(2017).

The Redskins have had issues in their secondary for a long time, with the safety position being a disaster and cornerback being slightly better.  They drafted David Amerson two years ago, and he has struggled, especially last season.  Last offseason they signed the oft-injured Tracy Porter, and he was the injury report superstar for the year, barely seeing the field.  Promising 4th round rookie Bashaud Breeland looks like he has the potential to be a long-term starter for the Redskins, but there is not much else.

The safety position needs to be completely restocked this year with one year rental FS Ryan Clark retiring, and injury and supsension-prone SS Brandon Meriweather a free agent again.  The team has Phillip Thomas under contract, but he is still inexperienced after missing his rookie year due to a Lisfranc injury, and not making the team last year until later in the season.  Hall talked about a possible transition to safety last year, but that still opens up another need at CB, and assumes he will still be with the team.

ESPN's Field Yates is reporting that the Redskins and Hall agreed to rework his contract recently.  The updated contract would remove Hall's base salary guarantees for the upcoming season which benefits the team if they decide to release him.  Hall could be released and then brought back on a new, cheaper deal if his recovery takes longer than expected and cuts into a lot of the offseason work/regular season.  Next season's base salary was the only remaining guaranteed money on his deal, but the team is still responsible for the remainder of his signing bonus($2.438 million). The team saves significant cap money over the next 3 seasons if Hall is released.

Under the previous terms of the deal, $1 million of Hall's $4 million base salary was set to become guaranteed on Feb. 15, but the restructure was agreed to in the days leading up to that deal and his entire base salary is now non-guaranteed.

Source: Washington recently tweaked the contract of veteran CB DeAngelo Hall. Details here: http://t.co/qh3LNf69LL

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) February 22, 2015

Two weeks ago, Head Coach Jay Gruden was at his son's basketball game(Dayton vs George Washington) and was asked by local reporter's about Hall's status for the upcoming season.  He didn't give specifics about his injury recovery, but did say that he was still in the team's plans.

Gruden says there are no worries about DeAngelo Hall, they are keeping him. #Redskins.

— Dianna Marie Russini (@NBCdianna) February 7, 2015