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In-Depth Look At The Nate Clements Deal

Nate Clements was signed yesterday to an 8-year, $80 million contract by the San Francisco 49ers, making him the highest paid defensive player ever.

The deal has made headlines on many sports-media outlets, and the first response of many has been “really?” It is true that an $80 million contract has been signed, but it’s not like Clements will receive all of that money at once…or ever, for that matter.

As previously mentioned on this blog, there is no such thing as a guaranteed contract [Value of Signing Bonuses]. On the other hand, teams may determine a percentage of a contract to involve guaranteed money. In the case of Clements, $22 million of the $80 million contract is guaranteed [Niners make Clements NFL’s highest-paid defender]. $22 million is still nothing to scoff at; however, it must be noted that it is a small percentage of the supposed $80 million that Clements will earn.

Todd France should be praised for the deal that he brokered for his client, though. First, he obtained the largest deal ever for a defender who has never even had a chance to perform in the playoffs or a Pro Bowl. Second, France had enough insight to put a stipulation into last year’s contract with the Buffalo Bills, which only allowed the organization to designate Clements as a franchise player for that year alone (for more on franchise designations: NFL Franchise Tags).

France had to demonstrate that Clements deserved a contract worth more than former highest-paid defender, Champ Bailey. Bailey received a 7-year, $63 million deal from the Broncos in 2004. Todd France should congratulate himself for getting the most value out of his client.

-Darren Heitner

By Darren Heitner

Darren Heitner created Sports Agent Blog as a New Year's Resolution on December 31, 2005. Originally titled, "I Want To Be A Sports Agent," the website was founded with the intention of causing Heitner to learn more about the profession that he wanted to join, meet reputable individuals in the space and force himself to stay on top of the latest news and trends.

Heitner now runs Heitner Legal, P.L.L.C., which is a law firm with many practice areas, including sports law and contract law. Heitner has represented numerous athletes and sports agents as legal counsel. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor at Indiana University Bloomington from 2011-2014, where he created and taught a course titled, Sport Agency Management, which included subjects ranging from NCAA regulations to athlete agent certification and the rules governing the profession. Heitner serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Florida Levin College of Law, where he teaches a Sports Law class that includes case law surrounding athlete agents and the NCAA rules.

5 replies on “In-Depth Look At The Nate Clements Deal”

I always find it hilarious when, in particular, the retardedly unfunny SportsCenter anchors make such a big deal out of the total contract money while rarely stating that it will never be fully paid out.

Jerry Rice signed a RIDICULOUS 6-year deal with the Raiders when he was 59 years old. He was waived after three seasons, only seeing a fraction of the announced contract money.

[…] In my In-Depth Look At The Nate Clements Deal (oh wait…it was just a glance), I mentioned that while everyone is flabbergasted by the whopping $80 million deal, only $22 million is guaranteed (jeez…I just said only $22 million).  That does not mean that all players are only getting 1/4 of their salary guaranteed, however.  Take for instance, Adalius Thomas, who just signed a $35 million 5-year contract with New England that has $20 million of it guaranteed!  That’s over half of the contract guaranteed (much more security percentage-wise than Clements). […]

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