On Monday I wrote that Russell Wilson could sign a massive contract and still have a relatively small cap number for the 2015 season. There’s no funny math or ponzi-scheme accounting required. It is just the way that the NFL’s salary cap rules work.

The best way to explain how this works is to use an example. Here is a potential contract that makes a ton of sense for Wilson. It has an AYP of $20 mil, which is market value. It also has $63 mil in guaranteed money, which fits market value and accounts for recent cap inflation.

[table id=33 /]

+This salary is guaranteed.

*Salary cap charge for signing bonus. This isn’t actually paid in that year.

Overall it is a six-year, $120 million contract with $25 million paid at signing and an additional $10 million bonus the following year.

As you can see, Wilson would make $26 million in the first year of this contract. He would also only count for $6 million against the salary cap. The reason is that most of that money comes in the form of a signing bonus.

Bonuses don’t count fully in the year that they are paid. Instead, they are spread out equally over up to five years of the contract. Since the signing bonus is spread out over five years, that $25 million in cash counts as $5 mil per year on the salary cap.

That is actually why there are two separate bonuses in this proposal. The bonus in year 2 allows for bonus proration over all six years of the contract. That five-year rule means that longer contracts will typically have the bonus money spread out a bit to take advantage of the extra years in the contract.

So Wilson’s $1 million in salary, plus $5 million in cap hit from his bonus, adds up to $6 million in total cap space for 2015. So even with a massive new contract and a huge payday, he still won’t count for much on Seattle’s 2015 cap.