NFL Salary Cap: Fallout From The Percy Harvin Trade

What is the NFL salary cap fallout from the Percy Harvin trade?

A little less than a week ago the Seattle Seahawks dropped a bombshell on the the sports media. Just two days before a game, they traded the explosive and highly-priced wide receiver Percy Harvin to the New York Jets. What came next was endless reports trying to make sense of the Percy Harvin trade.

We know now, at least according to multiple reports from multiple news agencies, that the Seahawks dumped Harvin because he was a major problem in the locker room. Harvin also pulled himself out of games when he was healthy, which is something that didn’t sit well with the Seahawks.

But this is the NFL, home of some of the strangest salary-cap rules on the planet. Trading a player like Harvin, with a contract like his, can have far-reaching consequences that can impact teams for years.

In this case, in large part because of the Jets’ current salary-cap status, the trade works out in a way that benefits both teams. The Jets were one of the very few teams this would have worked out well for from a financial side of things.

All salary information, contract details and salary cap figures taken from Spotrac.com.

What It Means For New York

The remainder of Harvin’s 2014 salary is fully guaranteed. Harvin will count $6.47 million against New York’s salary cap this season, even if he never plays a single snap.

Beyond this season, things become very easy for the Jets. All of the possible dead money on the Harvin contract is being charged to Seattle. For New York, Harvin’s entire contract is now “pay as you go.”

That means that the Jets can cut Harvin at any time, and they’ll never have to pay him another dime or have him count toward their salary cap in any way. This creates a huge degree of flexibility for general manager John Idzik.

That doesn’t mean that this trade will have no effect on the Jets beyond this season. Since all unused cap space rolls over to the next year, using that cap space this season means that it wont be available in 2015. The Jets have just reduced their spending budget for next season by almost $6.5 million by acquiring Harvin now.

It likely wont be a problem though. The Jets will still roll over $15 million in cap space into the 2015 season anyways. They also currently only have just over $96 million in salary on the books for 2015, even if they keep Harvin and $10.5 million contract

This means that the Jets will have somewhere above $50 million in cap space anyways. That’s a lot of scratch that can be used to upgrade their roster.

Overall, this is a no-lose trade for the Jets from a salary cap perspective. If Harvin works out, then they acquired an explosive playmaker for a mid-round pick. If he doesn’t, then they can cut him and not face any long-term cap problems.

Oct 12, 2014; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Percy Harvin (11) during pre game warm ups prior to the game against the Dallas Cowboys at CenturyLink Field. Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-USA TODAY Sports /

What It Means For Seattle

When the news of the Harvin trade broke, the initial response from the Seattle pundits was “it’s not working, and the team needs the cap space.” Unfortunately, it isn’t as simple as that.

Harvin’s cap number had he stayed with Seattle was $10.8 million. The Seahawks were able to shed $6.47 million in salary but shipping Harvin off to New York. Unfortunately, they also incurred $7.2 million in dead money. This dead money is the prorated portion of the $12 million signing bonus.

Put those two figures together, and there just isn’t a lot of salary cap savings created for the Seahawks. It is certainly not enough to re-sign quarterback Russell Wilson, as some people have inferred.

Of course, that is only part of the story. There is also the $10.4 million that the Seahawks wont be paying Harvin in 2015. With salary-cap rollover involved, it means that Seattle will have $9.7 million more to spend next year.

This is also why it was so important for Seattle that they were able to find a trading partner. Harvin’s 2014 salary is fully guaranteed. If the reports are accurate and Seattle was going to just cut Harvin loose, things wouldn’t look much different now.

Cutting Harvin would mean that the $6.47 million salary for 2014 that the Jets are paying this season would also be on Seattle’s salary cap. In that case, Seattle would have approximately $13.4 million in cap charges to offset just $10.4 million in cap savings.

That would have been a net loss of cap space for 2015. It really is a good thing that Seattle was able to get the Jets to agree to a trade.

As it is, the Seahawks are able to end out with some extra salary cap space next year that wasn’t initially in the plan. They’ve planed ahead to make sure they can re-sign Wilson, but this extra space should be enough to allow them to keep other pieces, like linebackers K.J. Wright and Bobby Wagner.

When you consider it that way, it is difficult not to think of the Percy Harvin trade as a long-term positive for the Seahawks.

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