Frontloaded Contracts

[Seahawks GM (Carter)]

I would like to propose an option to be able to front-load a player's contract after they have been won in free agency. GMs should have the option to front-load up to 50% (or potentially more) of the contract to give greater cap space down the line. This will allow more flexibility when signing veteran players and make them easier to move on down the line.

Original:
2023: $5M
2024: $5M
2025: $5M

New:
2023: $7.5M
2024: $5M
2025: $2.5M

This should be a post-award designation and will not change bidding, which would be a nightmare. Backloaded contracts also seem like a bad idea and could screw future GMs who could inherit really bad contracts. Thoughts?

[Colts GM (Ben)]

I don’t hate this. (Actually, I might like it.) However, there would need to be clear rules regarding how often this can happen (once per contract? once per year), and how many players can get a contract restructured. I also feel that frontloading must also come with backloading. Even if one is probably more responsible than the other, the balance of both feels important for teams to be able to maneuver how they wish. My two cents:
• Free agent contracts only
• Must be for contracts that have at least three years remaining
• No one year can have less than 25% of the total contract value