In a week that has already featured a Super Bowl win and several days of celebrating that win, Rob Gronkowski gets some more good news today. As Joel Corry of CBSSports.com outlines, by remaining on the Patriots’ roster, the star tight end has his 2015 base salary ($4.75MM), along with his ’15 workout bonus ($250K), become fully guaranteed. When combined with the prorated portion of his signing bonus, the newly-guaranteed salary puts Gronk on the books for an $8.65MM cap hit for the coming season.
Gronkowski isn’t the only player whose 2015 salary becomes guaranteed today, as Corry writes. A pair of Cardinals have also locked in a 2015 pay day, as cornerback Patrick Peterson will have his $11.62MM base salary become fully guaranteed, while quarterback Carson Palmer will have his $1MM base salary and $9.5MM roster bonus (due March 12) become guaranteed. The duo will count for over $29MM on Arizona’s cap in 2015, assuming the team doesn’t rework either contract in the offseason.
Gronkowski, Peterson, and Palmer are the latest noteworthy players to have their salaries fully guaranteed for the 2015 season. Earlier this week, Drew Brees, Jimmy Graham, Joe Haden, and Gerald McCoy had their ’15 salaries guaranteed as well.