Cousins isn't dumb...he knows this is a business, and he knows how quickly he can go from hero to zero with just one hit. His contract will be front-loaded, no matter which team it is. The difference is...instead of taking $31M from the Browns...he would gladly accept $29-$30M from the Jets/Broncos/Vikings to be on a decent team. He will get at least $60M in the first 2 years of the deal, and he will be the highest paid QB in the league.
Not all front loads are the same. There's front loading cap wise, and front loading pay wise.
We can front load him pay wise, we just can't compete on front loading cap wise in the 1st year. The longer the deal, the easier it is to fit him in if we're interested in bidding that high.
Depending on how the CBA plays out for 2021 and beyond, it might be wise to have more loaded in the first three years anyways.
We could pay a high signing bonus to spread things out with a lower base salary.
We could put certain roster bonuses in the 2nd and/or 3rd year when we can afford to take the bulk of the hit for his contract. This might be our best shot where we have offer a competitive signing bonus, smaller base pay the first year, and big roster bonus for at least the 2nd year. It all depends on the years.
If this is a five year deal for say 150 million. We could do something like this. 60 mill signing bonus
1 12m SB+5m salary = 17mill cap hit
2 12m SB+10m salary+18m roster bonus=40m cap hit
3 12m SB+12m salary+15m roster bonus=39m cap hit
4 12m SB+15m salary=27m cap hit
5 12m SB+15m salary=27m cap hit
=150million
93 million in first 2 years (or ~1 year and 1 day)
120 million in first 3 years (or ~2 years and 1 day)
I'm not saying we should do this, I'm just saying if we did this, we could try to structure it along these lines.
