From TST:
Unfortunately, he's correct...
If moved to IR, his full cap hit for 2014 remains ….17.61 million
If released, the Rams save 7.19 million on their 2014 salary cap
I wonder what we are going to do with him?
Actually, this is (edit: )
ONLY partially correct. As CoachO has pointed out, because he's out for the year, per the CBA, he is entitled to his entire Paragraph 5 salary, which in Bradford's case is... all of it. He has no incentive to take LESS and be released. The only reason to do that would be if he felt he could come back this year. Upon release, he'd have to wait 8 games before signing with that same team...OR, he could sign with another team asap. However, in Sam Bradford's case, no team is going to sign a QB who just sustained his second ACL tear in 10 months.
So, even if the Rams release him, his cap number this year will remain the same.
I raised the question earlier because I wasn't sure if released and settled if those numbers counted against the cap. Well, they do, but season ending injuries are fully guaranteed, so there's nothing to negotiate unless Sam really wants to try and not be released prior to the 2015 season and wants to try and ensure he has a chance next season. He could negotiate less money for that chance. But I can't imagine Bradford wanting to give up enough in the next few days that the Rams would consider it.
Which means that for all intents and purposes, for the 2014 season, Bradford will be on IR. Things can change very rapidly, but unless something changes (and at this point, I don't think our nerves can handle much more right now), he won't be released. It's impractical. I won't say "can't" be released, but it's highly unlikely.