For those who get sleepy when numbers get crunched, my apologies, but we're going to break out everything short of an abacus here. OK. That's a lie. No abacus and not even a calculator is necessary.

He is technically under contract for three more years, but that last year -- 2012 -- is voidable by Jones.

According to the database of the NFL Players Association, he is scheduled to earn $7.3 million in 2010 and $7.3 million in 2011. There is an eighth -- and voidable -- year that was written into Jones contract in 2006, extending the deal by one year as part of the Seahawks' appeal to match Steve Hutchinson's offer sheet from Minnesota. That sheet called for Hutchinson to be the team's highest-paid lineman "at the time of execution." Jones added one year to his deal and converted a 2006 roster bonus of $2 million into a signing bonus. Seattle lost its appeal, but Jones' renegotiated contract stood.

The other part of salary-cap mathematics is the pro-ration of a contract, which is very minimal in Jones' case. The $16 million signing bonus he received in 2005 is not pro-rated beyond this year because under the collective-bargaining agreement, those bonuses can not be pro-rated past five years.

There is the remaining pro-ration of the roster bonus converted into a signing bonus in 2006, which counts for $400,000 against next year's cap.

So what does that mean going forward? Well, it means the mechanics of a decision on Jones are very straightforward and it will allow Seattle to be very patient in terms of his recovery. There will only be $400,000 of so-called dead money should Jones not be on the team. If he recovers, $7.3 million for a starting left tackle is a steal. If he doesn't, that salary could simply come off the books. The only way Seattle would be rushed into a decision is if it is extremely cap-strapped with no wiggle room to make offseason additions it wanted. Only then would it have to confront the task of either getting a renegotiated deal.