Marquette King took less to punt for Broncos. His contract: 2 yrs, $4 mil w/option for 3 yrs, $6 mil. 2018: $500K SB (full gua), $1.5M salary. 2019: $2M sal (not gua); 2020: $2M early-trigger option, March '19). If 1st-team All Pro, 2020 salary escalates from $2M to $3M. #9sports
— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) April 6, 2018
Beyond the fold, here is what King’s contract table may look like:
| Year | Base Salary | Prorated Bonus | Cap Number | Dead Money & Cap Savings (pre-June 1) |
|
| 2018 | $1,500,000 | $166,666 | $1,666,666 | $2,000,000 | ($333,334) |
| 2019 | $2,000,000 | $166,667 | $2,166,667 | $333,334 | $1,833,333 |
| 2020 | $2,000,000 | $166,667 | $2,166,667 | $166,667 | $2,000,000 |
Klis is not clear as to whether 2018’s base salary is fully guaranteed, but I am going to assume that it is for practical purposes. (If not, it’s hypothetical for the Broncos to cut King before the regular season with only his signing bonus as dead money.)
In any case, if you thought King’s contract was friendly enough to the Broncos by APY (coming in as only the 15th highest paid punter), the structure is even friendlier. Dead money in 2019 and 2020 will be very minimal should King not work out for the Broncos beyond 2018. The lack of escalating base salaries beyond the All-Pro incentive also means that King’s APY of $2 million may fall even further down the list of punter day.
When I heard the news that the Broncos had signed King, I feared that they were going to make the same mistake they did with Britton Colquitt in overpaying for a marginal position. Instead, this is a very good deal for the team, and it lends creedence to the idea that King may not have sought as much money as he could have gotten for the goal of staying within the AFC West.
Or, in other words, he chose revenge over profit as the reason to continue his NFL career.