When Buffalo Bills fans heard Lorenzo Alexander was expecting to fetch between $5 and $10 million per year in free agency, they were understandably skeptical Buffalo could re-sign the Pro Bowler. Now that his contract numbers are in, you don’t have to be so worried about his dollar figure.
Alexander will make $5.9 million over two years, a far cry from $10 or even $5 million per season. $3.1 million of that is guaranteed when he signs his contract in the form of a $1.1 million signing bonus and his $2 million 2017 salary is guaranteed. He also has a $1 million injury guarantee on his $2.45 million 2018 season salary and a $300,000 roster bonus.
In addition to his base salaries, Alexander will make $6,250 per game active in 2018 and can earn up to $850K in incentives in 2017, and $1.25M in incentives for 2018. It’s unclear what those incentives are and they won’t count against the cap until they are achieved.
Here is the full breakdown:
2017
Signing bonus: $1.1 million
Salary: $2 million (guaranteed)
Cap hit: $2.55 million
2018
Roster bonus: $300,000
Salary: $2.45 million
Cap hit: $3.3 million not including incentives and games active bonus
If Alexander comes back to earth in 2017 and Buffalo releases him next offseason before his roster bonus is due, his dead cap hit will be just $550,000.