Fitzgerald signs 4yrs/40 Mill. with Cards

[brady199]

So thoose people who said he was gonna see 30 mill over the next two years were WRONG.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

So thoose people who said he was gonna see 30 mill over the next two years were WRONG.

POSTED 11:58 a.m. EDT, March 11, 2008

FITZGERALD EXTENDS HIS DEAL

According to an announcement posted on what appears to be his personal web site, Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald has agreed to a four-year, $40 million contract with the team.

Fitzgerald's site says that he'll get $30 million guaranteed, and $33 million over the next three years.

He had been scheduled to earn more than $14 million in salary in 2008 and more than $17 million in salary in 2009 based on eight-figure escalators for which he qualified based on his performance during the first four years of his career.

The deal also supposedly contains a clause that permits Fitzgerald to block any trade without his consent (which protects him from being traded to one of the really bad franchises . . . like the one he currently plays for).

 

[BelichickFan]

$33M over 3 years, $30M guaranteed.

 

[brady199]

$33M over 3 years, $30M guaranteed.

I heard 15 Mill guaranteed. on espn

 

[signbabybrady]

I heard 15 Mill guaranteed. on espn

no way he would accept 15, as his salary was going to be 14 mil this year.


I am suprised he decided to redo his deal.

He would have possibly made 14 this..17 next year and than could have got his 30 mil guarenteed. THe risk being injury or bad performance but he still would recieve salary for this year (provided he played the year).


now it is almost like he his playing years 3 and 4 for just 10 mil or 12.

he was set to make 31 mil in the next two seasons and now has 4 year 40 mil contract. Doesn't make much sense to me except that it is pretty much all guarenteed.

One side note to the deal is that it isn't that long and should be able to hit the market for another huge payday in 4 years.

 

[SavioKid]

Either way (10 / 15 ..million +) = he's worth every penny! On a good team (better QB), he will be one of the best...In 2 years when we are still paying Moss past his prime, Fitzy will be worth his contract & more!
Don't get me wrong, I think Moss at 10 mill next year is still worth it since Brady has a feel for him & he has 1 or 2 'prime years' left as a top tier WR (especially the jump or deep ball). But, come 3rd year, a much younger Fitzgerald will be the 'man' among 99% of the WRs.

 

[maverick4]

On the surface it appears Fitzgerald took less than what he was supposed to get had he not extended.

However, he gets way more guaranteed money now, which in the NFL is a big deal.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I heard 15 Mill guaranteed. on espn

Must be an ear wax issue. This is what Clayton is reporting along with reporting Larry saying he will get $33M in the first 3 years:

"Fitzgerald will receive a $15 million signing bonus Tuesday. His base salary will be $2 million, giving him a $17 million payout this year. He has a $5 million option bonus in 2009. Over the four years of his contract, he will receive $30 million in guarantees.

The new deal will save the team $8.842 million in cap room, dropping his salary cap number from $16,485,000 to $7,643,334."

And if the cap hit on a $10Mper average deal is $7.6M in the first year it will be in the $14M range come 2011 - but they will extend or restructure or trade him to a team he likes by then. His characterizing it as a 3 year $33M deal is fairly indicative of his feeling he will be on a new deal somewhere thereafter since his salary only in year 4 is apparently $7M. He got 3/4ths of his money guaranteed in a 4 year deal that averages a million more than Randy's. Comparatively speaking, Randy got just over half of his 3 year deal for a million a year less guaranteed.

 

[brady199]

Must be an ear wax issue. This is what Clayton is reporting along with reporting Larry saying he will get $33M in the first 3 years:

"Fitzgerald will receive a $15 million signing bonus Tuesday. His base salary will be $2 million, giving him a $17 million payout this year. He has a $5 million option bonus in 2009. Over the four years of his contract, he will receive $30 million in guarantees.

The new deal will save the team $8.842 million in cap room, dropping his salary cap number from $16,485,000 to $7,643,334."

And if the cap hit on a $10Mper average deal is $7.6M in the first year it will be in the $14M range come 2011 - but they will extend or restructure or trade him to a team he likes by then. His characterizing it as a 3 year $33M deal is fairly indicative of his feeling he will be on a new deal somewhere thereafter since his salary only in year 4 is apparently $7M. He got 3/4ths of his money guaranteed in a 4 year deal that averages a million more than Randy's. Comparatively speaking, Randy got just over half of his 3 year deal for a million a year less guaranteed.

5 million option Bonus isn't Guarenteed. If they Cut him they don't have to pay him.

 

[BelichickFan]

5 million option Bonus isn't Guarenteed. If they Cut him they don't have to pay him.

No-one said it was. That was a piece of information that said nothing about guarantees.

 

[Welker83]

Nice contract...and it free's him up for the "uncapped" year when the CBA is ended early...

 

[brady199]

So why did he sign with the Cards for this deal. If they paid him his old contract he would have been better off, and if they cut him or traded him, he would have way better off. If Javon Walker can score a 6 yr 55 mill. contract, it seems someone would have paid him much better than 4 yrs 40mill.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

On the surface it appears Fitzgerald took less than what he was supposed to get had he not extended.

However, he gets way more guaranteed money now, which in the NFL is a big deal.

He was scheduled to get over $31M in salary only over the next two seasons. Thing is, since that was unguaranteed salary only they could cut him if he became unable to play any time between NOW and the start of either season and owe him nada. This way no matter what he gets $30M if he never sets foot on the field again (barring a Vick like fiasco whereby signing bonus is partially recoverable). And this deal positions him to force a trade on his terms in year 4 if they don't do another extension.

Those who wanted him here also fail to grasp that this deal would pale in comparison to what he would have wanted/demanded in bonus and guarantees for the kind of long term deal (6 years) a team would have wanted to sign him to if they had to trade a first and more to get him to begin with. You'd have been talking 6/$65-70M with $20M+ in signing bonus and $40M+ guaranteed.

If he stays healthy this deal works brilliantly for him since he gets at least two bites at the big bonus money/high percentage guaranteed level this side of 30 contract as opposed to the standard one time second contract signing career highpoint deal.

 

[BelichickFan]

So why did he sign with the Cards for this deal. If they paid him his old contract he would have been better off, and if they cut him or traded him, he would have way better off. If Javon Walker can score a 6 yr 55 mill. contract, it seems someone would have paid him much better than 4 yrs 40mill.

$30M guaranteed. Without getting into insurance policies he pockets that for sure. If he gets hurt tomorrow he'd have had nothing more, if he got hurt next season he'd have had his salary but no more guaranteed.

 

[signbabybrady]

I understand Guarantees are worth a lot in this league but he walked away from a ton in salary for the guarentee which is about the same as he was set to earn in salary. In order to guarentee the money which he was set to get anyway he gave the Cardnals two more years of his service and all the cards give him was 10 mil more.

He should have gambled. He could have got the 14 mil this year and even the 17 next year and than hit the open market which surely would have been more than 4 yr 40 mil.

The gamble he would have to stay healthy and productive. Not as big a gamble when you figure he is going to see the 14 this year or be on the market before he plays again.

the only way it would back fire was if he got hurt or stunk...but he would 14 mil in his pocket and would still get something even if it was not 17 mil or 4 yr 40 mil.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

So why did he sign with the Cards for this deal. If they paid him his old contract he would have been better off, and if they cut him or traded him, he would have way better off. If Javon Walker can score a 6 yr 55 mill. contract, it seems someone would have paid him much better than 4 yrs 40mill.

Javon didn't really get the deal they spin his into. He got $11M guaranteed, and only $5M in signing bonus and if he doesn't rebound he never sees another dime of that deal.

If Fitzgerald gets hit by a car tomorrow on the way home from depositing his $15M signing bonus check or blows his ACL/MCL/PCL in a mini camp in May he still gets $30M in the next 4 years. Under his old deal they could cut him and take a dead cap hit on the balance of his rookie bonus money (maybe pay him an injury settlement) and be done with him. And even if nothing happened this year he gets his money in weekly increments beginning in week 1 so he loses the substantial interest or investment gain potential on the bulk of that money for 6-9 months and risks ever seeing the 2009 payment again due to it's not being guaranteed in the event of pre season injury.

 

[BelichickFan]

He should have gambled. He could have got the 14 mil this year and even the 17 next year and than hit the open market which surely would have been more than 4 yr 40 mil.

If it's my money, I'm not gambling. $30M guaranteed. Thanks. He'll be 28 in 4 years so he has the best of both worlds - guaranteed riches and another shot at a big one if he stays healthy and productive.

 

[signbabybrady]

If it's my money, I'm not gambling. $30M guaranteed. Thanks. He'll be 28 in 4 years so he has the best of both worlds - guaranteed riches and another shot at a big one if he stays healthy and productive.

Somone else pointed it out. I guess what I am missing is the potential to get hurt before he plays this season either in minicamp or training camp.

the fact that he will be 28 in 4 years doesnt mean much to the argument though because lets assume he got the 14 this year and 17 next and than signed the 4 yr 40 mil...he would than be 30 still young enough to get a mega deal. in this case he would 31 over the next two 40 mil over those 4 and get a final mega deal at 30.

The way it is now he gets 40 mil for the next 4 and than gets another mega deal and thats it. He could be leaving like 30 mil on the table just to make sure it is a guarentee.

 

[signbabybrady]

If it's my money, I'm not gambling. $30M guaranteed. Thanks. He'll be 28 in 4 years so he has the best of both worlds - guaranteed riches and another shot at a big one if he stays healthy and productive.

This twice today we have seen the different sides to a money issue. Let me ask you this? If you won the lottery would you pay a company to buy up your win and give it to you in one big sum (they take a cut) or would you let the lottery pay over the rest of your life or the next 20 years or however they do it?

 

[patsfanofNC12]

I would rather play out my contract there, and then leave that team.