Jadeveon Clowney contract details

At 8:02 p.m. CT on a Tuesday night, we finally got the full details behind Jadeveon Clowney’s contract with the Tennessee Titans.

Tom Pelissero of NFL Network broke the news first with the tweet below:

Spotrac.com is my go-to source for immediate contract info. They’re the most accurate in my opinion when it comes to details and salary cap implications. Surprisingly enough, Spotrac has already posted all the details we’d want to know.

Before we dive a bit deeper into what all the numbers above mean, there are two acronyms above that need explaining: “LTBE” and “NLTBE.”

Not everyone is salary cap savvy, but that’s why you have someone like me to help make it clear. “LTBE” stands for “Likely To Be Earned.” These are incentives that a player is considered “likely” to meet because they did so in the previous season. All LTBE incentives count against the salary cap.

“NLTBE” stands for “Not Likely To Be Earned”. You’ve probably already assumed how this goes, but these are incentives the player is not expected to meet because they didn’t do so in the previous season. NTLBE incentives do NOT count against the salary cap.

The first number I look at is the guaranteed money. The only things guaranteed to Clowney are his $5.25M base salary and the $6.25M signing bonus. That total makes up the $11.5M fully guaranteed part of this contract.

So now let’s break down the incentive numbers to show how we get to a cap hit of $12,718,750. Last season, Jadeveon Clowney played in 13 games, so when you look above and see his per-game active bonus of $93,750, only 13 games count towards the cap. 13 games multiplied by $93,750 per game is a total of $1,218,750.

You’ll see this same number reflected in the “Roster Bonus” column. Add that to the $11.5M fully guaranteed portion and we get to the $12,718,750 cap hit.

The rest of the incentives are NLTBE, meaning they won’t count against the cap. Clowney, as we all know from countless moronic tweets, has never had a double-digit sack season, and last year he only had three sacks. So 10 sacks is unlikely, but if he hits it, he will get paid $1 million.

You may be thinking to yourself, but the Seahawks made the playoffs, so why isn’t that LTBE. Well, self, that is because he only played 57% of defensive snaps during the season last year. He has to hit both to get that particular incentive, and as he only hit one last year, the snap % incentives are considered NLTBE.

Clowney is a three-time Pro Bowler, but he didn’t make the Pro Bowl in 2019, hence NLTBE for that as well.

This signing also drops the Titans down to 27th in the league in terms of available cap space. They currently, according to Spotrac, only have $4,038,233 in cap space remaining.

How does this affect 2021? Again according to Spotrac, this puts them currently at $10,470,817 in salary cap space for next year. With many free agents set to hit in 2021, this definitely puts the Titans in a tough spot. However, I have faith.

For the year 2020, this was a huge steal, and another example of how Jon Robinson and Vin Marino are masters of the contract. It’s time to stop casting doubt on this front office. This team is willing to spend big money and try and get quality free agents, because they know the time to win is now.

So what do you think? Hate the contract? Love the contract? Let us know below.

Author: Zach LyonsWith over 17 years experience of losing Fantasy Football games, Zach has been a Titans fan since moving to Nashville in 2002. A die-hard Alabama fan, but he doesn't let that cloud his judgement of the Elite Players they have put in the NFL. Players like Derrick Henry, Julio Jones, and AJ McCarron. You've heard him on Football & Other F Words giving his Unfiltered Opinions as facts and that won't change. He's always 100% right even if he has to revise earlier statements. Lawyered.