Cap question about brees

[FalconFan13]

As most people know  i do mock drafts and thats where most my time is spent so i have a cap question to ask i also asked it on the saints forum since it was about one of their players hoping they would know.    It's about Drew Brees this year in free agency i have seen that he is a FA this year but it also says he has a 18 mil cap hit.   Does anyone who knows or deals with caps know if this is true that he is a legit FA but is still owed 18 mil and if so if he resigns with NO does any new money signed get added to that 18 mil cap hit?   So like if he does 2 yrs 40 mil  in a new contract will they owe him 18 mil + 20 if they split the price of the new contract down the middle making it a 38 mil cap hit this year?

Thanks for the info and help on this and does anyone think a high draft pick would be looked at for the Saints if drew's contract status is like this.

[Forge]

The 18 million is the dead money hit on his current contract. He signed a 5 year extension in 2016 with a 30 million dollar signing bonus to give the Saints some cap room that year. However, there was a clause in the deal that automatically voided the deal after this year, 2017.  Signing bonuses are spread out over the length of a contract with a max of 5 years I believe, so in this case, the signing bonus portion of the cap hit was 6 million per year . When a player is cut, traded, etc, the bonus that is left accelerates and you take  it on the immediate season. So in this case, the final 3 years of the contract voided and there were still 3 years the signing bonus was spread out against, so that will accelerate against the Saints' cap next year as dead money. 6 mill x 3 seasons left = 18 million dollar cap hit. This is not money he will get from the Saints this year (he already received it when signing). 

If he signs a new contract, he'll have his 18 million dollar dead money hit + whatever the first year hit on his first season of the new contract is. So if his first year cap hit is 20 million, he would basically count for 38 million against the Saints' salary cap, though the 18 million in dead money from his previous contract and will hit against the cap whether he's on the roster or not 

[FalconFan13]

10 minutes ago, Forge said:

The 18 million is the dead money hit on his current contract. He signed a 5 year extension in 2016 with a 30 million dollar signing bonus to give the Saints some cap room that year. However, there was a clause in the deal that automatically voided the deal after this year, 2017.  Signing bonuses are spread out over the length of a contract with a max of 5 years I believe, so in this case, the signing bonus portion of the cap hit was 6 million per year . When a player is cut, traded, etc, the bonus that is left accelerates and you take  it on the immediate season. So in this case, the final 3 years of the contract voided and there were still 3 years the signing bonus was spread out against, so that will accelerate against the Saints' cap next year as dead money. 6 mill x 3 seasons left = 18 million dollar cap hit. This is not money he will get from the Saints this year (he already received it when signing). 

If he signs a new contract, he'll have his 18 million dollar dead money hit + whatever the first year hit on his first season of the new contract is. So if his first year cap hit is 20 million, he would basically count for 38 million against the Saints' salary cap, though the 18 million in dead money from his previous contract and will hit against the cap whether he's on the roster or not 

Thats what i thought as well and is exactly what i put on the saints forum after doing some research on it and thank you for verifying that what i was thinking is correct.   Man brees is gonna have to take it easy on them on this new contract lol.  38 to 40 mil is a truckload of money against a cap if they do that this year.   If he tries to get 25 to 30 mil a year i his next 2 contracts im not sure what the Saints are gonna do im gonna have to keep an eye on it to see how the saints cap goes after that.