I think I know how it will be structured.

 

They will give him a large signing bonus like 25 million. Signing bonuses are amortized over the life of the contract so you divide the bonus by the number of years of the contract and that is how much the bonus counts against the cap each year, so $25 mil would be $5 mil each year against the cap.

 

So the contract is voidable after 2 years. That means $5 mil will count against the 2014 cap and $5 mil against the 2015 cap leaving $15 mil left to be amortized over the remaining 3 years of the contract. If he opts out after year two, they lose the final 3 years of amortization so the remaining $15 mil has to count against the next seasons cap which will give them a $15 mil hit on their 2016 salary cap as "dead money".

 

That means approximately 10% of their 2016  cap space will be tied up in a player that has just walked away and if I am correct, 2016 is also the year they are expecting to have little cap space due to a bunch of contract extensions.

 

If they match, in 2016 they risk not only losing Mack by him opting out of his contract but also losing the cap space needed to re-sign or keep some of  their other high priority players. A double whammy, if you would, for them.

 

The jags could also offer a sizable roster bonus in 2016 to be paid before the opt out date costing them even more cash and giving them an even larger dead money hit to their 2016 salary cap.

 

Brilliant.

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