Truck

2 (actually 3) come to mind

1. Karl Malone going to the Lakers to play with Kobe/Shaq. Don't know the contract details on that one. Was it the vet minimum?

2. The Paul Kariya/Teamu Selanne Free Agent Package to the Avalanche (2002 I think).
Paul Kariya turned down a one year 10 mil player option to instead sign with the Avalanche for 1 year, 1.5 million, with the stipulation that they had to sign his buddy Teamu (who also signed cheap).

I remember thinking that was an outrageous deal -- basically giving the avalanche 2 full all star forward lines. Somehow though, they failed to win the cup...

Any other cases where you said "Wow, I can't believe he's playing for next to nothing"?

patsfaninpa

Didn't Elway play for peanuts his last two years in Denver? I know he was already there. And, already had made a ton of money. But, he did sacrifice some scratch for some rings. Will Peyton and Tom take their rivalry(friendly) to that level. Give their teams more cap space to give them more toys. Peyton has to be sitting pretty from all of his endoresements. I'm sure TB could do more. He just doesn't like to and is more private than Manning.

ELOrocks17

Isnt Peyton the 2nd highest paid QB in NFL history?

Tyler.Durden

michael finley? MJ donated all his salary to the 911 relief fund

Ishdul

Mario Lemieux was taking a pretty big discount towards the end of his career.

sebman2112

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MoLewisrocks

Tom has already given up $$$.

His deal averages $10M per over 6 years while Manning averages $13M over 7. Manning also commanded $34.5M in signing bonus, from an owner who had to sell personal holdings, of which he had few beyond the team his dad left him part ownership of, to fund that nut. Tommy took a tiered bonus structure over two years and $26M. With 3 rings already in hand. Tommy's deal isn't much more than the far less impressive Manning brother got from the Giants when drafted...not to mention Tom won us that first Lombardi for a couple of hundred grand...which is certainly worthy of a WOW in the bang for your buck department.

And Elway didn't give up anything. He agreed to an under the table deferral so it looked like he did. When they were later caught for cap evasion, the by then World Champion x 2 Broncos got docked a couple of third round draft picks, the cheaters...

Manning is the highest paid QB, at least among those likely to actually see theirs, followed by Palmer and previously Vick, although once he pays back Blank he'll be out of their league as he should have always been. Bulger signed a deal this year that was scheduled to pay him an AAV of $11M. Romo is reportedly holding out for a deal that guarantees him $30M in bonus money. Russell just got a deal from the Raiders that guarantees him $32 of a $61M 6 year deal. Guys like McNabb and Favre and even Fumblepepper were at one time on supposed $100M deals...hey, so for that matter was Drew.

So Tommy remains the bargain of the decade in more ways than one. Manning's cap hits over the next/last 3 years of his deal average almost $20M per year if they don't rework them via an extension.

Truck

Lets keep the thread about ridiculous bargains (at the time of the signing)...Not about players who outplayed their contract (in which case, most superstars outplay their rookie contracts)....Whether or not a player turned out to be a bargain after the fact doesn't change the nature (or lack) of the hometown/awaytown discount.

Brady's contract is a good deal (compared to Manning's and to some of these other slightly above average QBs),although I wouldn't call it a bargain today (he's still a top played player), and sure Brady took a discount, but at the time of the signing, it wasn't THAT much of a discount. 10 mil was a fair price. Nobody was sitting here saying "damn, I can't believe he signed that deal" People were saying that about Moss/Kariya. Instead ppl were saying "awesome, we locked tom up for decent money"

Mario Lemieux...If I recal, one of the primary reasons for him playing for peanuts is because the Penguins owed him alot of money, and if they went bankrupt (a real concern at the time), he wouldn't have gotten it. So kudos for playing on the cheap, but in reality he was also paying to ensure he gets the money they already owed him.

MoLewisrocks

People feared he was holding them up for Manning money. He also took an incremental deal AFTER winning the first ring and before signing the less than Manning deal. Tom has been beyond a bargain. And besides, I wasn't talking to you. You can start threads, can't control where they meander to.

As for Randy, before you deify him, understand that if a deal hadn't been worked out he would have been cut by the Raiders and nobody was going to give him $9M+ after the way things had gone in his two seasons there. He will probably end up with $4.5M here this year if he stays healthy. He might have gotten an incentive laden deal for several million somewhere else where he couldn't have earned the incentives. He may also outperform his deal here, but it was about what he was going to see from anyone under the circumstances. Jones gave TO a $7M deal coming off of Philly where he was both warrior MVP and royal pain in the ass, and everyone said he was insane - which he may yet prove to be. Randy had been pretty much MIA since arriving in the Black Hole and the concensus beyond Foxboro was he had lost a step and then some.

FlyingElvis75

Mario Lemieux is the big one that comes to mind...also, does anyone know what Ray Bourque took in during his one year with the Avalanche?

I can think of others who made a lot less late in their career, but that was due to the fact that they were aging and didn't command a high salary due to performance drop-off...

Clemens is the anti-discount player.

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