With team captain Hunter Henry as the only established option under contract, the New England Patriots entered free agency with some uncertainty at their tight end position. They ended up addressing the issue not be re-signing unrestricted free agent Austin Hooper, but rather by brining in some reinforcements: Julian Hill, who spent his first three seasons with the Dolphins, joined on a three-year contract.
While initially reported as an $18 million deal, that number includes $3 million in incentives.
And even the base value of $15 million is not quite as straight-forward as it seems, a look at the pact’s details shows.
TE Julian Hill: Contract details
Base value: $15,000,000
Maximum value: $18,000,000
Guarantees: $7,500,000
Signing bonus: $4,200,000
Salary (2026): $1,400,000
Salary (2027): $1,900,000
2026 (age 26):
Base salary: $1,400,000
Signing bonus: $1,400,000
Roster bonus: $765,000
Workout bonus: $135,000
Incentives: $1,000,000
Salary cap hit: $3,565,000
2027 (age 27):
Base salary: $3,100,000
Signing bonus: $1,400,000
Roster bonus: $765,000
Workout bonus: $135,000
Incentives: $1,000,000
Salary cap hit: $5,400,000
2028 (age 28):
Base salary: $3,600,000
Signing bonus: $1,400,000
Roster bonus: $765,000
Workout bonus: $135,000
Incentives: $1,000,000
Salary cap hit: $5,900,000
In terms of structure, Hill’s three-year deal with the Patriots is nothing out of the ordinary. It includes base salaries, roster and workout bonuses, and playing time incentives in all three seasons. It also comes with $7.5 million in guarantees.
However, how those guarantees are distributed relative to other costs is crucial and why Hill’s contract effectively can be considered a one-year deal. We just have too look at dead money and cap savings to find out why that is the case.
First things first, though. Hill’s roster spot is safe for the 2026 season; releasing him at the roster cutdown deadline in late August, for example, would create $4.7 million in dead cap but only $3.565 million in savings. Those calculations change the following season, though: the Patriots would gain cap space in case of a release both before and after June 1, 2027, and obviously in 2028 as well.
As a consequence, New England is in a position to reevaluate Hill and his contract next offseason. And while he is signed through 2028, the structure of the deal makes moving on after one year fairly easy from a financial perspective.
