FINANCIAL QUANDARY
Bombers face money crunch
WINNIPEG He’s saved his team from what looked like sure doom, turning 1-4 into 4-4, perhaps not singlehandedly, but in the starring role.
With six touchdown passes and just one ball intercepted — the only turnover his offence has committed in three games — his passer rating of 109.6 is among the best in the CFL.
Yet, quarterback Matt Nichols presents a problem for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
With every start, Nichols earns more money through an incentivebased contract.
Meanwhile, former starter Drew Willy is being paid approximately $400,000 to stand on the sidelines.
If Nichols remains the No. 1 gun, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t be given the disparity in the play of the two, the Bombers will spend more money at that position than they planned.
Given the team’s off-season splurge in free agency, a salary cap crunch is likely on the way.
Winnipeg Sun sources say Nichols’ contract, a one-year deal he signed Jan. 5, called for a base salary of $76,000 and a signing bonus of $80,000.
The $156,000 total was a reasonable and affordable number for the team to commit to a No. 2 quarterback.
But the playing time incentives and bonuses in Nichols’ contract could pay him another $100,000 or so, assuming he keeps playing.
Meanwhile, as a five-year CFL veteran, Willy’s salary becomes guaranteed after the 10th game, the Labour Day Classic in Saskatchewan.
So GM Kyle Walters appears to have four options:
Release Willy before the Labour Day weekend and save a good chunk of his salary. Ask Willy to take a pay cut. Release another player or players to compensate for the extra salary going to Nichols.
Keep everyone, to hell with the cap and pay the CFL fine for overspending.
The first option appears extremely unlikely.
The Bombers committed to Willy as their franchise quarterback and aren’t likely ready to abandon that direction after just three games with Nichols in charge.
Head coach Mike O’Shea likes to say you need two quarterbacks to get where you want to go, and while that’s not always the case, getting rid of Willy would leave the Blue and Gold awfully thin at the position.
If Nichols does down, is Dominique Davis more capable of winning games than Willy? There’s no evidence to suggest he is.
Option 2 is not as unlikely, but still unlikely.
The Bombers signed Willy’s contract in good faith. Asking him to tear it up now only adds insult to his already bruised ego and would make waves around the CFL, casting the Bombers in a very unfavourable light.
The last man to pull that stunt here was head coach Mike Kelly in 2009. Stefan LeFors was the underperforming quarterback who was asked (forced?) to renegotiate.
That episode was only one chapter in a season-long gong show (Winnipeg was fined for going over the cap anyway) that saw Kelly fired when it was over. Walters won’t want to stain his spotless reputation with a similar move.
The third option — releasing someone else — also carries risks.
This team has a tight lockerroom with some good chemistry. Disrupt that at your own risk.
But Walters might decide business is business, the same way he felt he had to cut receiver Clarence Denmark after signing free-agent receivers Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith in the off-season.
Could Dressler or Smith be on the chopping block, assuming they get off the injured list? The team is winning without them.
As a vet of six years or more, Dressler’s contract (approximately $175,000) becomes guaranteed after the next game, the ninth of the season. Smith, a third-year pro, has no such luxury.
Finally, there’s the option of keeping the team intact, paying Willy what he’s due, going over the cap and eating the fine and bad publicity that comes with it.
Teams that go over the cap by up to $100,000 are fined dollar-fordollar. Overspending by more than $100,000 but less than $300,000 costs $2 for every dollar, plus a first-round draft pick.
If you blow the cap by more than $300,000, you play triple and lose your first two draft picks.
If Matt Nichols keeps winning, I’m guessing this is a bullet the Bombers will gladly bite.