PFR Glossary

Unlike in the NBA or MLB, players’ contracts in the NFL aren’t guaranteed by default. Typically, an NFL player will receive at least some guaranteed money when he signs a deal, but that money often comes in the form of contract bonuses, and in particular signing bonuses. While a player’s base salary, or P5 salary, will occasionally be guaranteed for a season or two, more often than not future seasons in that contract are fully non-guaranteed, allowing the team to escape the contract without much of a cap hit, particularly if the player’s bonus money was limited.

Take Vontaze Burfict for example. The linebacker inked a three-year, $33MM extension with the Bengals in 2017 with just $3.3MM in total guarantees. Rather than carrying Burfict at a $7.3MM cap figure in 2018, the Bengals released him in March, leaving just $1.8MM in dead money against $5.5MM in savings. At the time of signing, Burfict was ticketed to be the highest-paid 4-3 outside linebacker in the game on a per-year basis, but the Bengals were able to pull the plug and pay out only a portion of that commitment.

Signing bonuses, which are generally paid in one or two lump sums, are fairly straightforward forms of guaranteed money, but not all guaranteed money is created equal. We saw a prime example of that when Colin Kaepernick inked a long-term extension with the 49ers in 2014. When word of the agreement first broke, Kaepernick’s guaranteed money was reported to exceed $60MM+. However, upon learning the full details of the contract, we found that only about $13MM of that total was fully guaranteed, whereas another $48MM+ was guaranteed for injury only.

An injury-only guarantee is one of three types of guarantees that a team can write into a player’s contract that apply to his base salary in a given season. These guarantees are as follows:

• Guaranteed for injury: If a player suffers a football injury and cannot pass a physical administered by the team doctor, he would still be entitled to his full salary if the team were to release him. For a player with several future seasons guaranteed for injury only, it would take a career-ending injury for the team to be on the hook for all those future injury-only guaranteed salaries.
• Guaranteed for skill: The most subjective of the three, a player whose talents have significantly declined and is released for skill-related reasons (ie. another player beats him out for a roster spot) would still be entitled to his full salary if that salary is guaranteed for skill.
• Guaranteed for cap purposes: This form of guarantee ensures that a player who is released due to his team’s need to create cap room will still be entitled to his full salary.

A team can use a combination of these forms of guarantees, making a player’s salary guaranteed for injury and skill, for example. In the event that a player’s salary is guaranteed for injury, skill, and cap purposes, we’d refer to that salary as fully guaranteed, since the player would be eligible for his full salary regardless of the reason for his release.

As is the case with prorated bonuses, all future guaranteed salary owed to a player by a team is considered “dead money” and would accelerate onto the club’s current cap in the event of his release (over one or two years, depending on whether the cut happens after June 1). For the most part though, beyond the first year or two of a deal, that prorated signing bonus money is the only guaranteed figure remaining on the contract, which is why teams often don’t have qualms about releasing a player in the later years of his deal.

Once upon a time, the injured reserve designation would automatically rule a player out for the entire season. But, thanks to an update in 2012 and many tweaks over the last eight years, that’s no longer the case.

In 2012, the NFL and the players’ union agreed that each team could bring back one player from IR, though that player had to be designated before Week 1 of the ’12 season. Gradually, that rule was revamped to allow every team to return two players from IR each year, with the flexibility to make that determination midway through the season as teams monitored each player’s recovery.

Still, the basic parameters applied – the players had to spend a minimum of six weeks on injured reserve without practicing. After that, they’re permitted to practice, but they’re required to wait at least another two weeks before seeing live action. That’s the minimum amount of time. If the player isn’t activated after ~21 days, they’re no longer eligible to play that season. It’s known as the “three week window” in the NFL, and teams cannot reuse that return spot if the player isn’t good to go. So, while the revamped rule gives teams some much-needed flexibility, there’s still a lot that goes into the decision.

In May, the NFL gave the rule yet another facelift. Going forward, teams will be allowed to bring three players back from IR each season to provide a little extra padding for clubs strained by injuries and the limitations of the 53-man roster.

The NFL’s “physically unable to perform” (PUP list) allows teams to park seriously injured players for a minimum of six regular season games without taking up a spot on the roster. Meanwhile, a similar designation exists for players who are unable to practice as a result of conditions unrelated to the team’s official football activities.

We’re talking about the NFL’s Non-Football Injury list, more commonly known as the NFI list. The name indicates that the designation is only for injuries that occur off of the gridiron (snowboarding accidents, banana peel slips, etc.), but it also covers injuries that are sustained while partaking in football activities outside of the auspices of the shield. For example, a player who suffered an injury during college football activities could be placed on the NFI list.

There are two types of NFI designations: the Active/NFI designation leaves the door open to returning to practice once the player is medically cleared. Meanwhile, the Reserve/NFI designation is for players who will not return to the active roster during the regular season. With the “Active” tag, players count against the roster max, whether it’s the 90-man or 53-man version. With the “Reserve” tag, they do not.

So, what’s the real difference between NFI and PUP? The biggest distinction is that teams can withhold part of the player’s salary while on NFI. This isn’t frequently done, but it’s an option for teams who feel that a player’s personal irresponsibility caused their condition.

When training camp rolls around next month, you might start hearing about players being placed on the PUP list. While the PUP list (sadly) isn’t a collection of which players are bringing their favorite canines to practice, it does have an important meaning for the NFL season.

PUP stands for physically unable to perform, and the PUP list is similar in fashion to injured reserve. It denotes which players aren’t healthy enough to practice during training camp. But there is one important distinction regarding PUP that can often get confusing.

Players who can’t start training camp due to an injury are initially placed on Active/PUP. This is a minor designation, and one that we at PFR typically won’t even cover. A player on Active/PUP isn’t able to practice until he’s medically cleared. Once he gains that clearance, he’s free to hit the practice field and is removed from the PUP list.

If a player begins training camp on Active/PUP and never gets healthy enough to practice throughout camp and into the preseason, he’s likely to be placed on Reserve/PUP. This is the more common PUP designation, and one that we will cover. Being placed on Reserve/PUP forces a player to miss the first six weeks of the regular season, so it’s a fairly serious option. After those six weeks are up, the team has a three-week window in which in must either activate the player, place him on injured reserve, or release him.

A few things to remember:

• A player can’t practice and then be placed on a PUP list. If Patrick Mahomes takes part in only a single day of training camp before suffering an injury that will knock him out for the first six weeks of the regular season, the Chiefs wouldn’t be allowed to move him to PUP.
• Similarly, if a player is on Active/PUP, gets healthy enough to practice, and then gets hurt again during camp, his team is out of luck. He won’t be able to go back on the Active/PUP list or be placed on the Reserve/PUP list.
• Any player on either PUP list does not count toward his team’s 53-man roster.

In short, you typically don’t need to fret if your favorite player is placed on Active/PUP. The majority of players on Active/PUP are there for precautionary reasons and will soon be allowed to participate in practice sessions. But if that player sticks on Active/PUP throughout the preseason and is then shifted to Reserve/PUP, buckle in for a minimum absence of six weeks.

Note: This is a PFR Glossary entry. Our glossary posts explain specific rules relating to free agency, trades, or other aspects of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. 

Here at Pro Football Rumors, you’ll see a number of stories posted on players being cut, waived, or released by their NFL teams. While these terms are often used interchangeably, they’re not quite synonymous. A player who is “cut” has been removed from his team’s roster, but whether he is “waived” or “released” generally depends on his NFL experience.

Between the day after the Super Bowl and the following season’s trade deadline, players with less than four years of service time – or “accrued seasons” – have to pass through waivers after they’re cut by an NFL team. The other 31 clubs around the league have a day to place a waiver claim on that player, adding him to their roster and taking on his contract. That’s why we refer to these players as having been waived, rather than released.

If a player with more than four years of service time is cut between the Super Bowl and the trade deadline, he is not subjected to the waiver process, meaning he becomes a free agent immediately, able to sign with a new team right away if he so chooses.

This isn’t the case all year round, however. Once the trade deadline passes, any player who is cut by his team must pass through waivers, regardless of how many accrued seasons are on his résumé. So if a team cuts loose a 12-year veteran in Week 10 of the season, that player must pass through waivers unclaimed before he’d be free to sign with a team of his choice.

Here are a few more details on the waiver process:

• If two teams place a waiver claim on the same player, he is awarded to the team with the higher priority. Waiver priority is determined by the previous season’s standings — this year, for example, the Cardinals have first dibs, while the Super Bowl champion Patriots have 32nd priority.
• However, the waiver priority order will change starting in Week 4. At that point, waiver priority is determined by records of the current season.
• The window to claim a player closes at the end of the NFL’s business day, which is at 3:00pm central. So if a player is waived by one team on Monday, the other 31 clubs have until Tuesday afternoon to submit a claim. Players cut on Friday clear waivers (or are awarded to a new team) on the following Monday.
• Prior to the first cutdown date in training camp, injured players with fewer than four years of service time cannot be placed on injured reserve until they pass through waivers. Teams will cut this sort of player with a waived-injured designation, allowing other teams to place a claim if they so choose. If the player goes unclaimed, his team can place him on IR or agree to an injury settlement, then fully release him from the roster.

Note: This is a PFR Glossary entry, modified from a previous post by Luke Adams. Our glossary posts explain specific rules relating to free agency, trades, or other aspects of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.