It didn’t take long for former Buffalo Bills tight end Charles Clay to sign a new deal. According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Clay signed today with the Arizona Cardinals.
According to Schefter, it’s a one-year deal worth up to $3.5 million. That’s a far cry from the $9 million Clay was scheduled to make in Buffalo. Clay’s signing bonus is only $350,000 and that likely will be the only guaranteed money in the deal, as well. It remains to be seen what the base salary is and the incentives Clay will have to hit to reach $3.5 million.
Clay will still count $4.5 million against Buffalo’s cap in 2019 thanks to two signing bonuses they paid throughout the life of the five-year deal he signed four years ago. The Bills don’t owe him any more money, though, and his play in 2018 didn’t warrant keeping him around in 2019.
The Bills currently only have developmental player Jason Croom signed for the 2019 season at the tight end position. Most Bills fans were okay with moving on from Clay in a poll we ran in January.
As a reminder, Clay won’t count anything toward the Bills’ compensatory pick formula since he was released.