ARRINGTON'S DEAL STINKS
Initially hyped as a seven-year, $49 million package with an $11 million signing bonus, the contract signed by linebacker LaVar Arrington with the New York Giants is, in actuality, a deal that averages $3.7 million per year. If Arrington hits some basic incentives, the deal is worth $5 million annually. To hits the $7 million per year figure, Arrington needs to hit some pretty high performance triggers.
More importantly, the contract pays Arrington a signing bonus of only $5.25 million, less than half the figure that initially was leaked, presumably by his agents. (Maybe they'll now claim that the bonus was changed by the Giants from $11 million to $5.25 million in the final draft of the contract -- and that they failed to notice it because they read contracts roughly as carefully as Fran Foley reads his own bio.)
The practical consequence here is that, if the Giants conclude that they made a mistake, the cap hit will be manageable. Cutting him after June 1, 2007, for example, would result in a $1.05 million cap charge in 2007, and $3.15 million in dead money come 2008.
And the package pales in comparison to the contract signed by linebacker Julian Peterson with the Seahawks. Peterson got $18 million guaranteed as part of a seven-year, $54 million package.
We're also somewhat surprised that the truth on the Arrington deal got out so soon. Surely, Arrington's camp didn't cough up the real numbers. From the Giants' perspective, the typical approach by NFL teams is to let the player pretend he got a great deal -- without saying anything while the ink is still wet (and before the numbers are available via the NFLPA) as to what the player really will get.
Initially hyped as a seven-year, $49 million package with an $11 million signing bonus, the contract signed by linebacker LaVar Arrington with the New York Giants is, in actuality, a deal that averages $3.7 million per year. If Arrington hits some basic incentives, the deal is worth $5 million annually. To hits the $7 million per year figure, Arrington needs to hit some pretty high performance triggers.
More importantly, the contract pays Arrington a signing bonus of only $5.25 million, less than half the figure that initially was leaked, presumably by his agents. (Maybe they'll now claim that the bonus was changed by the Giants from $11 million to $5.25 million in the final draft of the contract -- and that they failed to notice it because they read contracts roughly as carefully as Fran Foley reads his own bio.)
The practical consequence here is that, if the Giants conclude that they made a mistake, the cap hit will be manageable. Cutting him after June 1, 2007, for example, would result in a $1.05 million cap charge in 2007, and $3.15 million in dead money come 2008.
And the package pales in comparison to the contract signed by linebacker Julian Peterson with the Seahawks. Peterson got $18 million guaranteed as part of a seven-year, $54 million package.
We're also somewhat surprised that the truth on the Arrington deal got out so soon. Surely, Arrington's camp didn't cough up the real numbers. From the Giants' perspective, the typical approach by NFL teams is to let the player pretend he got a great deal -- without saying anything while the ink is still wet (and before the numbers are available via the NFLPA) as to what the player really will get.
