Hold up, HOW MUCH are the Cardinals paying Sam Bradford to not play football?

Sam Bradford, at his best, is good at playing football. He is also, even at his worst, great at making money.

The former No. 1 overall pick made more than $114 million in stints with the Rams, Eagles, and Vikings from 2010-17. That math comes out to $1.1 million per touchdown pass, $1.425 million per start, and a nutty $3.35 million per win as a starter.

And now, after rookie Josh Rosen was named the Cardinals’ starting quarterback, Bradford’s going to be the league’s highest-paid backup.

Bradford signed a one-year, $20 million deal (with a $20 team option for 2019) in March to serve as Carson Palmer’s replacement. It was a ... well, let’s say “bold” deal to begin with. The veteran was coming off his two best seasons as a pro after a stop in Minnesota, but he also missed 14 games of the 2017 season thanks to a knee condition Vikings coach Mike Zimmer would later characterize as “degenerative.”

Less than two months later, Arizona drafted Rosen, leaving Bradford as a $20 million bridge between the team’s past and its present. And now, after three inefficient starts and an 0-3 record, it turns out that bridge was shorter — and potentially a little cheaper — than the Cardinals may have thought.

Bradford’s $20 million contract for 2018 has some caveats. $15 million of that deal is guaranteed; the remainder is tied up in game bonuses. As long as Bradford is an active part of the team, he’ll get approximately $312,500 per game — the league’s largest weekly roster bonus.

But in order to avoid that six-figure payout, Arizona would have to demote him all the way to its emergency quarterback. The team would retain him on the 53-man roster, but leave him off the 46-man active roster that’s set on game day. That would effectively keep him in case of catastrophe but cut him off from an immediate return to the field if Rosen struggles or suffers an injury.

It’s a move for which the club has insulated itself. The Cardinals have one of the league’s top third-string quarterbacks in Mike Glennon. Glennon has started 22 games in his six-year career, but was most recently seen going 1-3 with the Bears before turning the reins over to rookie passer Mitchell Trubisky. While he doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, he’s a useful quarterback whose floor isn’t much lower than the two-touchdown, four-interception, and 5.0 yards per pass Bradford put up in his first three games with the team.

First-year head coach Steve Wilks wasn’t even planning on telling the two veteran quarterbacks until the night before their Week 4 game against the Seahawks:

And he ended up elevating Glennon to the No. 2 role:

The Cardinals could also release Bradford outright, which would allow him to sign on with another team as a high-value backup or potential starter for a franchise like the 49ers, who just lost Jimmy Garoppolo to a torn ACL. That would also take him out of the Arizona locker room, however, where Rosen reveres his leadership and guidance. The question there is whether the Cardinals value those intangibles more than the savings they can glean by cutting or deactivating him.

Another option would be to wait and see if another quarterback injury like Garoppolo’s charges a potential trade market for Bradford — though his massive salary cap hit and career-worst performance this fall would make it difficult to get any kind of meaningful return for the veteran passer.

No matter what, Bradford will make almost $16 million in 2018, another eight-figure payday he can add to a career filled with them. With Rosen installed as the team’s starter and Glennon the backup, it would have cost the Cardinals another $312,500 per game to keep him as an insurance policy.

Leaving a respected veteran languishing on the inactive list through the majority of the season is the kind of move that would trash the team’s reputation among players. It would also leave the team vulnerable in case Rosen struggles or gets injured during a game. But it is saving them $4 million, and the Cardinals decided that was worth more.