The Arizona Cardinals added outside linebacker Terrell Suggs this offseason on a one-year, $7 million contract. He brings production and leadership to the team.
However, the contract is structured in a way that will create dead money against the salary cap in 2020 as a way to give the Cardinals a couple of extra million in cap space this year.
According to Spotrac, the contract is actually a two-year deal. The second year automatically voids a few days after the Super Bowl. He was paid $4 million to sign and will make $3 million in salary. Because there is a dummy year on the contract, his cap hit this year is $5 million.
It also means, unless the Cardinals extend his contract, they will carry $2 million in dead money in 2020 when Suggs is not on the team.
The dummy year is something the Cardinals have done on a few contracts. They added two voided years to quarterback Mike Glennon’s contract last year. They made Mike Iupati’s 2019 year void and also did it with Carson Palmer’s contract as well.
The issue is that general manager Steve Keim has said multiple times he wants to manage dead money because it hurts a team’s salary cap situation. The Cardinals have consistently been one of the league’s leaders the last three years in dead money.
Maybe they need the extra $2 million this year, but essentially Keim is again kicking the can into the future.
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