Look at it this way.
According to the Scarbomb piece:
2014: $11,187,500.
2015: $8,950,000.
2016: $6,712,500.
2017: $4,475,000.
2018: $2,237,500.
Absolute worst case scenario, there is a 0.000% chance we're firing him in the middle of the season this year. So scratch the $11 mil.
If he goes 0-12 next year, He's still going to get 2015 to prove it was a fluke. We're not going to fire a guy that exceeded expectations the way he did last year for just about any outcome this year. That being said the odds of that happening are about a billion to one.
So let's just assume the impossible happens and he goes 0-24 over the next 2 years.
$6.72 million. Malzahn's base salary is still only $500,000 per year.
So in an apocalyptic meltdown that there is basically no way of actually happening in reality, in the earliest scenario we would possibly fire Malzahn, we are paying him about the same for his salary AND buyout as Alabama is paying Saban JUST for his salary. Add Saban's buyout and you're basically up to eleventy billion dollars.
You can't say Saban's contract is a "smart bet that Saban ends his career strong" while also criticizing Malzahn's "massive buyout". You just can't.