I wonder if they signed him to 7 year extension across for 8 years if they plan to stack signing bonuses via roster bonuses.
Give Russ a 10m signing bonus this year, he counts 3-4m against the cap, only takes 2m against the current cap. It puts 10m in his pocket.
Next year convert a 15 m roster bonus into signing bonus. Play him on 5m guaranteed salary, he makes 20m in 2016. But only counts 10m against the cap.
Year 3 convert another 15m into roster bonus into signing bonus with another 5m base guaranteed. He makes another 20m in 2017 but costs only 13m against the cap.
Yr 4 give him 25m SB with a 5m base, he makes 30m but costs 18m against the cap.
15: 2 signing bonus = 3 to 4m cap hit
16: 2, 3 + 5m base = 10m cap hit
17: 2, 3, 3 + 5m bgtd = 13m cap hit
18: 2, 3, 3, 5 + 5m bgtd = 18m cap hit
19: 2, 3, 3, 5 + 12m gtd = 25m cap hit
20: 3, 3, 5 + 14m gtd = 25m cap hit
21: 3, 5 + 12m gtd = 20 m cap hit
22: 5 + 13m gtd = 18m cap hit
If Math is correct he makes 120 over 8 years = 15m apy.
But he will be getting SB of 10, 15, 15, and 25 = 65m + base salaries of 5, 5, 5 in those first 4 years equals to 20 apy.
And the last 4 Years you could definitely put in roster bonuses in his gtd salary mix for instance if you cut him in 2020: Seahawks take 24m dead cap charge if he's not performing. Or you could choose to split hits of 11 and 13 across 2 years.
In 2021: it's only a 13 mil dead cap charge. Or you could choose to split cap hits of 8 and 5 across two years.