Over the weekend, the Chargers and quarterback Philip Rivers reached agreement on a lucrative four-year extension worth $84MM. Today, we learned the details of the contract.
Rivers will earn a $22.5MM signing bonus with $15MM fully guaranteed in 2015, Mike Garafolo of FOX Sports tweets. He’ll have a $16.5MM injury-only guarantee in 2016 which converts to a full guarantee on the second day of the ’16 waiver period. In 2017, Rivers will earn $14MM with $11MM guaranteed for injury only that will convert to a full guarantee on the second day of the waiver period. In the final two years, he’ll make $10MM and $11MM, respectively, with a $5MM roster bonus in each of those seasons.
That’s big bucks for the Bolts QB, but as we learned earlier tonight, that kind of deal apparently isn’t good enough for Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Here’s more from around the NFL..
- T.Y. Hilton‘s deal with the Colts calls for him to earn base salaries of $1MM, $3MM, $8MM, $11MM, $13MM, and $14.54MM, Mike Chappell of the Indy Star tweets. Hilton’s new deal with Indianapolis could pay him $65MM in total with $39MM guaranteed.
- Contract talks between the Lions and defensive tackle Haloti Ngata are ongoing and positive, Rand Getlin of NFL.com tweets. Ngata, a five-time All Pro, indicated in March that he would be open to an extension, and Lions GM Martin Mayhew has said that team management is also interested in working out a long-term deal.
- Gosder Cherilus‘ deal with the Buccaneers is worth $7MM over two years, a source tells Ian Rapoport of NFL.com (on Twitter). The offensive lineman will earn $2.5MM this year and $4.5MM next year. Cherilus gets a $500K roster bonus in 2016 and his $2M base salary escalates to $3M if he plays 75 percent of the snaps in 2015, Rick Stroud of the Tampa Bay Times tweets.
- Cardinals UDFA rookie linebacker Zack Wagenmann broke his foot again and will miss the entire 2015 season, a source tells Adam Caplan of ESPN.com (on Twitter).
Cherilus isn’t anywhere close to the annual salary he got on his contract with the Colts, but I’m actually surprised how well he was able to do at this point in the year. Even if he doesn’t make that full $7MM with the Bucs, that’s still a nicer deal than most of the minimum-salary contracts you see guys signing these days.
It’s a good example of how preseason injuries can increase competition for starting-caliber free agents — I wonder if we’ll have to wait for a couple key guards to go down with major injuries before we see Evan Mathis sign.