The 22 million dollars the Falcons paid to Vick was part of his signing bonus. Signing bonuses are pro-rated salary cap hits.

Let's say I sign a 5 year deal and my signing bonus is 10 million dollars. The salary cap will be hit for 2 million dollars per year (in addition to whatever my salary will be).

The 22 million is money they've paid Vick already up front.

What I don't get is why they're getting all 22 million credited in one year. I don't know why they aren't getting credited yearly, the way the system was designed to hit the cap in the first place.