Eagleheart
Bencher
Absolutely 100%, this happens all the time. Ben Hunt heading back to the Donkeys is just another example. One $$$ thing counts on the cap, but plenty of other things "magically" don’t…If you have the means (ie vast wealth and hence many other people of wealth who'd like to be in your good books) then there are unlimited ways of rewarding players, even that don't involve any paper trail. "Say, you should Go and see my mate Mr Rich (who owes me a favour, lol) he has an interesting project in the future that he'd like you to be involved in, psst, hush hush wink wink)"
Good luck to salary cap auditors ever uncovering stuff like that