Resolute said:
Guaranteed contracts make 5-8 year deals a virtual impossibility in the NHL scheme of things. They may happen, but very, very rarely.
The only money guaranteed in an NFL contract is the signing bonus, and it's value is prorated over the life of a contract. Long term deals are the norm because that makes an $8 million signing bonus cost only $1 million a year for 8 years rather than about $2.7 million for three, though I am not certian how the cap accelleration mentioned above works. A team can easily cut a player after a couple years if things go bad, so there is no risk or screwing up your cap beyond that bonus.
It's kind of confusing, but my best understanding of it is that if you trade or cut a player (before June 1) whatever remains of his bonus immediately is applied toward the upcoming year's cap. If you cut the player after June 1, then the cap hit can still be spread out over the next two seasons. This is why you see so many NFL "cap casualities" in the first week of June.
So, for example, if Player A signed a six-year deal with a $12 million bonus in 2004, the bonus would impact the cap to the tune of $2 million a year for the next six seasons. But let's say Player A turns out to be a tremendous bust and by year three the team needs to dump him. If they cut him before June 1, the final three years of his bonus ($6 million) would apply to that season's cap figure. If they wait until after June 1, then they can spread that $6 million out over the next two seasons, cutting in half the annual cap hit.
That being the case, why would any team cut a player before June 1? Here's the catch: the league requires that all teams be at or below the cap on March 1. This is why you get tons of contract restructuring and some cuts in the latter part of February. For some teams, it's easier to take the one-year cap hit of a pre-June 1 cut than it is to fit that player's annual salary and pro-rated cap under the cap on March 1.
That's my best understand of the situation. If I'm wrong, I have no doubt someone will correct me.