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But here is the rub on that contract:
His base salaries will increase during the deal, topping out at $14 million in 2014. He'll also get $1 million roster bonuses for each of his last three seasons, bringing the total amount of the reworked, nine-year deal to $118.75 million.
Sounds like his deal is backloaded with a large portion of the money coming in 2012-2014 which Palmer is unlikely to see. Brady has always had deals where his money is spread out evenly over the life of the contract. He definitely won't see the $15 million in 2014. So that already brings his contract down from 9 years, $13.2 million a year to 8 years, 8 years, $12.9 million a year. If he is cut after this or next season, how much does it bring down his contract? Palmer has likely played his last game with the Bengals unless he redoes his contract to bring down his salary quite a bit. He ultimately won't get anything close to what Brady got.
Looking at this deal on its face, it looks like it supports all the frugality comments about Brown. In 2005, Palmer was the hottest QB other than Manning and Brady. Yet, he got a really long term, backloaded deal that he would have to maintain his elite status to see a large chunk of the money. Brady got shorter term contracts where he got a lion share of his money up front and his base salary and bonuses didn't go up significantly year after year.