If Aaron Hernandez winds up in legal trouble related to the investigation of a homicide of one of his associates, that tweak in the CBA's language could cost the New England Patriots tight end nearly $37 million.
The new CBA states a player commits a "forfeitable breach" when he "willfully fails to report, practice or play" while healthy, retires, suffers an injury due to "an activity other than football which may involve a significant risk of personal injury" or "is unavailable to the team due to conduct by him that results in his incarceration."
With those guidelines in place, Hernandez stands to lose up to $10 million of his signing bonus, depending on the amount of time he would be incarcerated or suspended. He has earned one-fifth of the prorated bonus by playing last season, and that amount cannot be paid back. Any bonus forfeiture moving forward would be prorated based on how many weeks he would be unavailable to the Patriots.
So of a deal that was worth $40 million over five years, Hernandez is guaranteed to earn $3.226 million of it (the first $2.5 million of his signing bonus, his $540,000 base salary from 2012, a $104,000 roster bonus last season and this year's $82,000 workout bonus), despite the fact he's already been paid the other $6.75 million in signing bonus that is subject to being recouped.
If the Pats decide to cut Hernandez once any incarceration or suspension is complete, the hit on the salary cap would be the acceleration of any of the prorated signing bonus left to be paid. If, for example, Hernandez is out for this season and is cleared to return in 2014, the cap hit would be the final $7.5 million in bonus proration — money Hernandez would still be paid.
at the Pats fans trying to convince themselves AH isn't going to do time and the cops have nothing.
Its like they forget there is a dead victim & they are hoping the AH crew beats the rap.
