New contract reveals Washington still on the hook to pay Haskins originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
Washington drafted Dwayne Haskins with the 15th overall pick in 2019, and that brought with it $14 million guaranteed.
When Ron Rivera decided to cut Haskins before Week 17 last season, that meant the quarterback was off the team. That did not mean, however, that Haskins was off the books.
Haskins signed with the Steelers last week, and now that his new contract details have emerged, it's quite obvious Washington will still pay the bulk of the guarantees remaining on the deal.
Here's how it works - Most of Haskins money came when he signed his rookie deal in 2019 in the form of a signing bonus. How much? $8.5 million to be exact.
For salary cap purposes that money gets spread out over the life of the contract, but in actual cash purposes, Haskins already has the money.
So Washington has already paid out about 60 percent of Haskins guarantees, and should he make the Steelers for the 2021 season, the salary he's agreed to with Pittsburgh will subtract off the Washington books, or "offset" in NFL parlance.
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For 2021, Washington will take more than $4 million in a cap hit by releasing Haskins.
That's not going to break the bank for Rivera's team, as Washington currently sits with more than $35 million in cap space, fifth-most in the NFL.
