will Patriots have to pay Hernandez?

[JackK]

Hernandez has a weird contract in that the sections pertaining to his base salary don't have a "failure to report/perform/practice" clause. From Ian Rapoport:

In almost all situations, when an NFL player is suspended, he forfeits all of the future guarantees in his contract. Even if a signing bonus or base salary is guaranteed for skill, injury and salary cap, a "failure to perform" or "failure to practice" clause makes those guarantees null and void.

In a surprising twist, this appears not to be the case with the five-year, $40-million extension signed by New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez in August of 2012. Upon close reading of his contract language -- and after confirming the development with an expert -- the "failure to perform" or "failure to practice" clause that appears in similar Patriots extensions is not present. This means Hernandez might be able to keep nearly $2.5 million of the deal, even if legal troubles prevented him from taking the field.

...

According to his amended contract, Hernandez is guaranteed a total of $16 million. Of that, $9.25 million in a signing bonus already has been paid, with the final $3.25 million due in March 2014.

The rest of it comes in guaranteed base salaries for the 2013 and 2014 seasons, along with $1 million total guarantees in workout bonuses for the 2014 and 2015 offseasons. According to Paragraph 32(d) of his amended contract, the workout bonus is "null and void" if the player fails to report.

That "failure to report" clause is the one not present in the sections for his base salaries. In almost all other contracts, it would be.

That means, even if he is suspended or unable to report for any reason, the Patriots still might be on the hook for $1.323 million in 2013 and $1.137 million in 2014. It's unclear why the "failure to perform" or "failure to practice" clause is not present in Hernandez's contract.

Thanks to the missing clause, Hernandez might be able to keep monies that normally would have been voided even if he's not able to practice or play.

They MIGHT be able to get the money back (signing bonus) through a legal battle, but the pats did agree to a contract that says he's still entitled to it. The cap hit won't go away though($4.1 mil this year, 8.6 mil next).