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The Buffalo Bills and running back LeSean McCoy have agreed to a new five-year deal, reports Jeff McLane of The Philadelphia Inquirer - and it's going to up his first-year earnings by a considerable amount and save the Bills a considerable amount of money on their 2015 salary cap number.
LeSean McCoy and #Bills have agreed upon new 5-yr contract once trade w/ #Eagles is finalized on Tues, per NFL sources. Told it's a whopper.
— Jeff McLane (@Jeff_McLane) March 8, 2015
ESPN's Adam Schefter first reported the terms via McCoy's agent, Drew Rosenhaus. (Your daily free agency reminder: contract numbers that come from agents are never the full story.)
LeSean McCoy and Bills have agreed on a $16M first year total with $26.5M total guaranteed and $40M over 5 years, per @RosenhausSports
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 8, 2015
The breakdown of the $26.5 million in guaranteed money will be intriguing to see once a full breakdown of the deal is available, likely sometime next week.
As for McCoy's scheduled $10.25 million 2015 salary cap hit, that will be dropping significantly. Here's why: Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk.com reports that of McCoy's $16 million year-one earnings, $13.125 million comes via signing bonus. Add one-fifth of that ($2.625 million) to $2.625 million in salary and a $250,000 workout bonus ($2.875 million), and McCoy's 2015 cap charge drops from $10.25 million on his old deal to $5.5 million on the new one, saving the Bills $4.75 million against the cap this year.
Reports surfaced just yesterday that the Bills and McCoy were closing in on a new contract. Our resident cap analyst, Tom Mitchell, will be chiming in a bit later on today with a full, year by year breakdown of the contract.