A look at Zach Brown’s new contract

OverTheCap has the details of the Zach Brown contract.

This is surprisingly team-friendly, and it’s clear that Zach was trying to help the Redskins add some talent this off-season — something common to all the contracts we’ve seen so far (Richardson and Alex Smith).

Most fans (myself included) were expecting that, with a Twitter-reported deal of 3 yr, $24m, that the cap hit for 2018 would likely be $4m - $6m. It is actually $2.7m. The Redskin front office is clearly keeping its powder dry for some more off-season moves. They’ve already added Orlando Scandrick this week. Hopefully, Johnathan Hankins, Pernell McPhee or Junior Galette will be next.

The question that I ask myself when I look at a contract structure is: If the Redskins cut this player at the end of a season, how much would that player have made?

Here’s the answer to that question, based on these OTC details:

Cut at the end of 2018 - Brown would receive $5.75m for a single season

Cut at the end of 2019 - $13m for two seasons ($6.5m per year average)

Completes contract - $21m for 3 seasons ($7m per year average)

I wrote in a comment a week or two ago that Nigel Bradham had taken a contract that really helped the Eagles front office in a difficult off season for them. Zach Brown has done the same with the Redskins, signing a contract that guarantees him only $5.5m, and creates a situation where the team can cut him anytime. OTC says he has a $4.5m injury guarantee for 2019 as well.

He also has incentives that allow him to earn up to an additional $1m per season, but they must be classified as “unlikely to be earned” or OTC would have included them in his cap numbers.

All in all, this is a very team friendly deal, designed to give the Redskins maximum flexibility in the 2018 offseason free agent period.

What we’ve seen from Eric Schaffer this off-season is an attempt to minimize the 2018 cap hit from every signing, which indicates that the front office plans to add several players via free agency in 2018.