August 18, 2008
Fred Weary Swings and Misses
Is Ahman Green the Next to Go?
by Keith Weiland
Keith@IntheBullseye.com

The Texans placed right guard Fred Weary on injured reserve today in order to make room for the 3,720th running back on the roster this year, Marcel Shipp.

I'm a little sad to see Weary go, mostly because it will mean a sharp decline in cheeky swinger-related headlines like this one, but also because Weary has been around for awhile and always seemed to be a bit under-used and under-valued.

The team will likely negotiate an injury settlement with Weary, who only signed a one-year contract less than four months ago. The settlement will be a negotiation, but it usually seems to be for about half of what the player was scheduled to earn in the season, which for Weary ought to pocket him another $400,000 or so on top of his $300,000 signing bonus.

Weary might yet return in 2009, even with the Texans, just as the possibility exists for another offensive linemen, Charles Spencer, who was released by the Texans before the onset of training camp.

The arrival of Shipp might be an indicator that Ahman Green could be cut soon as well. Injured on his one and only play of the preseason, Green's return is still in question. As I speculated back in June, a healthy preseason would be crucial to Green sticking to the roster.

So there are significant money implications should Green be released before Week 1, and there are two parts to consider in the equation: cash paid and salary cap accounting.

Green is owed $4.5 million in cash for the 2008 season based on a sum of his $3.8 million base salary plus his workout bonus of $200,000 and a series of roster bonuses worth a total of $500,000. While Green has probably already earned the workout bonus (unconfirmed), the roster bonuses are paid on a game-by-game basis across all 16 regular season games ($31,250 per game), so they are unpaid at this point.

From a cash perspective, what that means is if Green is cut before Week 1, Bob McNair won't be paying Green $4.3 million this season ($3.8 million + $0.5 million).

The salary cap analysis is a whole 'nother story as Green COULD be treated as a June 1st cut (because he's being released after June 1st...). This allows the Texans (if they want, and they probably will want) to split his dead money (i.e. unamortized signing bonus) across this year's cap and next.

Specifically, Green's bonus amortization for 2008 is just $1.25 million (based on a $5 million signing bonus spread evenly across a 4-year contract), so add that to his $200,000 workout bonus I'm guessing he's already earned, and his 2008 dead money figure on the cap could be as little as $1.45 million. Remember, the $500,000 in roster bonuses is unearned at this point, so it does not count as dead money.

The remaining two years' bonus amortization (Green signed thru the 2010 season) would accelerate to the 2009 cap ($1.25 million * 2 years) for a total of $2.5 million. Or, the Texans could eat the entire amount ($1.45 million + $2.5 million) of $3.95 million on the 2008 cap, but I severely doubt they'll do this. It's too easy to take advantage of the "Philly Loophole" and forward unused cap space this year to the 2009 salary cap.

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