Titans: D.J. Moore contract breakdown for a potential trade to Tennessee
With the firing of third-year head coach Matt Rhule, the Carolina Panthers are preparing for a full rebuild and roster overhaul. After the news broke,It only took a few hours for teams to get on the phone and get in line to negotiate for many of Carolinas top players. According to reports, Star RB Christian […]
With the firing of third-year head coach Matt Rhule, the Carolina Panthers are preparing for a full rebuild and roster overhaul.
After the news broke,It only took a few hours for teams to get on the phone and get in line to negotiate for many of Carolinas top players.
According to reports, Star RB Christian McCaffrey, Pro-Bowl edge rusher Brian Burns, and wide receiver DJ Moore were among the notable players receiving heavy interest on the trade front.
And of course, Tennessee Titans fans’ ears perked up when Moore was mentioned.
At 25 years old, Moore has everything the Titans need, and everything Titans fans are longing for.
He’s a do-it-all, bona fide WR1, who has record three consecutive seasons with 1,100+ receiving yards in a struggling Panthers offense. He’s young, under team control, and could immediately plug into the Titans offense to take them to the next level.
But, of course the elephant in the room: How much would he cost?
After all, it was money and contract negotiations that pushed AJ Brown (the WR1 the Titans now need) out of their building and into Philadelphia.
Now, let’s not make this all about Brown. I’m not here to discuss the front office and the mistake they made in letting Brown out of their building. That’s a different conversation.
I’m here to talk about whether or not the Titans can realistically fix that mistake by acquiring Moore, and the financial commitment it would take to make it happen.
Because NFL contracts and salary cap can be confusing, let's breaks this down.
Contract Breakdown
Moore and the Panthers agreed to a three-year, $61.884 million extension in March. The deal includes $41.61 million guaranteed and keeps him under team control through the 2025 season.
In total, Moore is set to be paid $73 million over four years by Carolina, with a large escalation in salary coming in 2023.
But how much of that would the Titans be responsible for if they traded for Moore?
Any time a team acquires a player via trade in the NFL, the team also acquires the player’s remaining contract, prorated to the number of games remaining in the season. The team, however, does not have any responsibility for bonus money that has already been paid to the player, and that money does not count against their cap.
Taking a look at the breakdown of Moore's contract, Moore is owed a total of $6.11 million in 2022. Of that money, $5.075 million has already been paid in the form of workout and signing bonuses. Moore has also been given five game checks (good for 5/17 of his yearly salary).
That would leave the Titans responsible for less that $1 million ( $730,588 to be exact) if they traded for him right now. Every game Moore plays in Carolina, that number drops by another $60,000 or so.
Bottom line: Moore is affordable, and would not give the Titans any cap issues this season.
As for the future, Moore has an aforementioned raise coming his way beginning in 2023, when his base salary increases to right around $20 million.
The good news? The Titans still will not be responsible for paying Moore his signing bonus money every year. He has already been paid the entirety of his $19.5 million bonus. The $4.875 million that goes against the cap annually will therefore still be the responsibility of Carolina.
Should Moore wind up in Tennessee, here is the full financial commitment the Titans would be making, and the figures that will go against the salary cap space:
2022 – $730,588
2023 – $20,165,000
2024 – $16,050,000
2025 – $16,050,000
Considering AJ Brown has been less productive than Moore in his early career, and he still fetched a four-year, $100 million contract extension from the Philadelphia Eagles this past offseason, the market would suggest Moore is coming at a discount.
Making this trade makes all the sense in the world for Tennessee. It's not every day you can fill one of the biggest holes in your roster with a long-term, team friendly contract.
Jon Robinson, pick up the phone.
Image via Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports
