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Midweek NFL Contract Rundown

This week has been nothing other than full of big NFL team moves. Instead of covering them all, I am providing some of the contracts that stuck out the most to me. See below.

  • Madieu Williams signed a 6-year, $33 million with the Minnesota Vikings, making him one of the highest-paid safeties in the NFL. Wait, who? I consider myself to be a pretty big football fan. To pay a guy that I have never even heard of one of the highest paid contracts for his position seems like something only the Vikings organization would do. I guess it makes sense then.
  • The Cleveland Brows signed former #3 receiver on the Patriots, Donte Stallworth to a 7-year $35 million deal. Seems like quite a bit for a guy who has been overshadowed by a guy like former Gator wide receiver, Jabar Gaffney, who appeared lower on New England’s depth chart. Although, the deal seems low, if compared to the Vikings deal listed above.
  • Apparently, teams are impressed with Cincinnati’s 2007 defensive lineup. The San Francisco 49ers just inked DE Justin Smith to a 6-year, $45 million contract. The guy was a high draft pick and has been consistently solid in the NFL. Looks like a good deal for both sides.
  • The Falcons dropped Dunn and picked up former San Diego Chargers backup, Michael Turner. The deal is for another term of 6-years, paying a total of $34.5 million ($15 million guaranteed). Personally, I feel like it is a lot of money to pay a guy who has not yet proven his ability to take a majority of a team’s snaps in the backfield. If he does not perform up to expectations, he could always be cut, so his agent did a nice job of squeaking that $15 million guarantee in there.
  • At 26-years-old, Ben Roethlisberger is looking to play for the Steelers well into his 30s. Pittsburgh agreed with his agents on an 8-year, $102 million contract. The real eye catcher is the $36 million guaranteed, eclipsing Peyton Manning’s guarantee in his deal.
  • Alan Faneca is the highest paid O-Lineman after the Jets gave him a 5-year, $40 million deal. $21 million of it is guaranteed. Not bad for a guy that many would place out of his prime, at the age of 31-years-old.
  • Oh, and some guy named Randy Moss is sticking it out with the Patriots after signing a 3-year, $27 million deal. Good call, Schackman.

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.

One reply on “Midweek NFL Contract Rundown”

I had a lengthy discussion last night with an agent I have a great deal of respect for, and he took special note of the length of most of the deals signed over the past week. He said he thinks it indicates that teams are very wary of the owners opting out of the CBA deal, and they’re hedging their bets with long contracts. Could be one reason there’s so much lunacy this time of year. Of course, it also could just be the Raiders being the Raiders.

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