When does a 4 year extension last for 3 years?

The media has been reporting that Seymour's extension is for 4 years. But he was already under contract for 2006, and from what I am reading (see other threads on the nflpa site, miguel's site, and here) the new contract will only keep him a Patriot through 2009. How is that a four year "extension"? Can someone please explain this to me? Miguel? Anyone?

(For background, this is from the Cafardo article the above link takes you to)

Seymour's new deal runs through the 2009 season, when he'll be 29 years old. He receives a $5.34 million signing bonus and his base salary will be $585,000 for 2006. Sometime prior to the '07 season, Seymour will receive a whopping $18.66 million option bonus. If by remote chance the option is not picked up by the team he'll receive $19.26 million.

Given the likelihood that it will be picked up, Seymour's base salary for '07 will be $600,000. His base in '08 will be $730,000 and in '09 he is scheduled to earn $3.685 million. He also will receive workout bonuses of $100,000 through 2009.

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IMO, rule number #1 for fans in free agency is to discount the early reports of a contract. They are often puffed up by agents and/or front office people or reported incorrectly by the media.

Miguel said:

IMO, rule number #1 for fans in free agency is to discount the early reports of a contract. They are often puffed up by agents and/or front office people or reported incorrectly by the media.

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Are we still in early stages in your opinion - or do you feel the latest reports are accurate. That said - in your opinion and analysis - what is the deal??

Miguel said:

IMO, rule number #1 for fans in free agency is to discount the early reports of a contract. They are often puffed up by agents and/or front office people or reported incorrectly by the media.

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Yes, but didn't Seymour himself allude to being with the team for another 5 years in a radio interview yesterday?

See radio interview transcript here, in which he says:

If the good Lord says the same, if I can be able to play five more years like I've played so far, as far as my success and the team's success, I think I'd be pretty happy at the end of the day as far as repeating the Super Bowls and Pro Bowls and All-Pros and things of that nature.

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and

Q: There were reports that it was a four-year deal that would average between seven and eight million per season. Is that accurate?
RS: Hey, that's the report.

Q: Will you say what the actual contract was or is?
RS: Well, I think that's pretty accurate.

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fgssand said:

Are we still in early stages in your opinion - or do you feel the latest reports are accurate. That said - in your opinion and analysis - what is the deal??

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We are no longer in the early stages. Once the NFLPA.org site provided RS's salary numbers and Adamjt13 gave his contract details, we know now what the deal is.

PromisedLand said:

Yes, but didn't Seymour himself allude to being with the team for another 5 years in a radio interview yesterday?

See radio interview transcript here, in which he says:


and

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If we go by what Seymour actually said and not implies, he himself confirms that this deal is a 4 year deal. The first quote implies that RS will be a Patriot in 2010 but does not actually say it.

Miguel:

If the $18 million option bonus were written to trigger an additional year (2010), would the salary for the additional year even show up on the NFLPA salary list at this time? Or would the salary for 2010 only show up when the option is actually exercised?

Seems to me that in that scenario, 2010 doesn't really exist until the option is exercised. I don't know if that's the way it could work, but it would be an explanation that reconciles the conflicting reports.

Of course, history shows that the most likely possibility is that the media simply got it wrong in their initial reports. That's usually the case!

hwc said:

Miguel:

If the $18 million option bonus were written to trigger an additional year (2010), would the salary for the additional year even show up on the NFLPA salary list at this time?

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In the past, the salaries for the additional years would show up on the NFLPA salary list. See Brady's deal. I see no reason why this practice would change.

Miguel said:

In the past, the salaries for the additional years would show up on the NFLPA salary list. See Brady's deal. I see no reason why this practice would change.

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Yeah, I was thinking of Brady's option bonus deal when I asked if it would even be possible. My guess is that there may be a way to word an option that keeps additonal years off the books until an option is exercised, but that we never a see a contract like that because teams are usually looking for as many years of proration as possible.

The good news is that Seymour is locked up thru 2009.

In almost every case, when a player's contract is extended, the media reports the length of the extension as the number of years in the contract, regardless of how many years already existed. If a player's contract expires after 2007 and he extends it through 2011, the media almost certainly would report it as a "six-year, $XX million extension" -- even though it was extended by only four years.

For example, Terry Glenn had been under contract with Dallas through 2007. He extended it through 2010. The media reported it as a "five-year" extension --

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-cowboys-glenn&prov=ap&type=lgns

"Glenn signs five-year, $20 million contract extension"



http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2386321

"Glenn signs five-year, $20M deal with Cowboys"