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Mitch Morse contract details are in quickly

The Bills signed Morse on Monday

Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade.

The Buffalo Bills made Mitch Morse one of the highest-paid centers in the NFL a few years ago when they signed him from the Kansas City Chiefs. After a pay cut last year, they rewarded him with a new contract extension this offseason.

He gets a $7.5 million signing bonus as part of $11.25 million in first-year cash payments. It gives him a nice pay bump and makes him whole from that pay cut. The $7.5 million signing bonus is part of $10.64 fully guaranteed money at signing but none of the money beyond Year 1 is guaranteed.

This is another Brandon Beane special with all the guaranteed money front-loaded, meaning the general manager can easily move on from the player at any point in the future. He did it with Jon Feliciano and Darryl Williams a year ago, as well.

His cash payments in the following two years are $8.25 million and $8.5 million with nearly identical cap hits of $10.75 million and $11 million. That includes roster bonus in March and per-game bonuses during the season.

The new contract lowers Morse’s 2022 cap hit from $11.25 million to $9 million, a savings of $2.25 million.

Here are the yearly breakdowns.

2022
Old contract signing bonus: $2.75 million
New contract signing bonus: $2.5 million
Workout bonus: $100,000
Per-game active bonus: $510,000 ($30,000 per game)
Base salary: $3.14 million

Cap hit: $9 million

2023
Pro-rated signing bonus: $2.5 million
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus: $100,000
Per-game active bonus: $510,000 ($30,000 per game)
Base salary: $6.64 million

Cap hit: $10.75 million
Dead cap: $5 million
Cap savings if cut: $5.75 million

2024
Pro-rated signing bonus: $2.5 million
Roster bonus: $1 million
Workout bonus: $100,000
Per-game active bonus: $510,000 ($30,000 per game)
Base salary: $6.89 million

Cap hit: $11 million
Dead cap: $2.5 million
Cap savings if cut: $8.5 million