We’ve gotten plenty of inquiries over the past day regarding the cap consequences to the Bengals of a possible trade of receiver Chad Johnson to the Eagles.

The inquiries primarily have come from our friends in Philly, and our own Taco Bill tells us that it’s a major source of confusion there.

As a preliminary matter, none of this matters.   The Bengals won’t be trading Johnson, barring a dramatic change of heart from team president Mike Brown.

But if a trade were to happen, the cap hit would hinge on whether a deal is done before or after June 1.  Before June 1, the Bengals would take the full acceleration for all unallocated signing bonus money.  In Johnson’s case, it’s around $8 million.  The number as a practical matter would be offset by the $3 million in base salary that Johnson is owed this year, knocking the net cap hit down to $5 million.

After June 1, the Bengals would carry in 2008 only the signing bonus allocation that they’d otherwise show if Johnson were on the team.  The rest of the signing bonus money would hit the cap in 2009.

Here’s an example.  If a player receives a five-year contract with a $5 million signing bonus, the signing bonus applies to the cap at a rate of $1 million per season.  So if the player is traded before June 1 in the second year, the cap charge for that season would be$4 million.  After that season, the player would be off the books.

If the player is traded after June 1, the cap hit would drop to $1 million for the current year.  The next year, the team would take a $3 million cap hit.

It has been argued by some that the Bengals couldn’t absorb the $5 million net cap hit by trading Johnson before June 1.  As we pointed out on Saturday, however, the $5 million could easily be offset by doing a so-called “simple restructuring” to quarterback Carson Palmer’s contract, knocking his $7.75 million base salary down to the minimum and converting the rest of it to a signing bonus. 

Again, however, Johnson won’t be traded unless the Bengals want to trade him.  And with the Redskins now out of the picture, someone else will have to come up with two first-round picks and possible more to even get the Bengals to consider reconsidering.