Getty Image / Rich Graessle
Yesterday, football fans learned some shocking news from the NFL.
4 players, including former 1st round wide receiver Jameson Williams, were being suspended for violations of the NFL’s gambling rules.
One of the other player was CJ Moore, who was also a Detroit Lions player.
After learning he’d be suspended at least a year, the Lions cut Moore.
According to Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio, Moore will get to keep a $1.4 million signing bonus from the contract he signed with the Detroit Lions this offseason because the suspension isn’t one of the 4 “forfeitable breaches” of the contract.
Last month, the Lions signed C.J. Moore to a two-year deal with a $1.4M signing bonus. He recently was suspended under the gambling policy, and then cut. Based on the language of his contract and the CBA, it looks like he gets to keep the signing bonus. https://t.co/YniKA5Q0Xc
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) April 22, 2023
According to Florio, these are the 4 forms of “forfeitable breach” in the contract:
“Any player who (i) willfully fails to report, practice or play with the result that the player’s ability to fully participate and contribute to the team is substantially undermined (for example, without limitation, holding out or leaving the squad absent a showing of extreme personal hardship); or (ii) is unavailable to the team due to conduct by him that results in his incarceration; or (iii) is unavailable to the team due to a nonfootball injury that resulted from a material breach of Paragraph 3 of his NFL Player Contract; or (iv) voluntarily retires (collectively, any “Forfeitable Breach”) may be required to forfeit signing bonus, roster bonus, option bonus and/or reporting bonus, and no other Salary, for each League Year in which a Forfeitable Breach occurs (collectively, ‘Forfeitable Salary Allocations’), as set forth below.”
Moore was set to make $4.5 million total over the next 2 years, so he’ll still be taking a pretty big financial hit because of his suspension, but making $1.4 million to not play football next season certainly isn’t the worst situation to be in.