Marcus Mariota took a pay cut in order to stay with the Raiders. But, in exchange, the backup quarterback received a no-trade clause, according to a league source who spoke with Greg A. Bedard of the Boston Sports Journal (on Twitter).
Mariota was originally set to earn $10.725MM, a hefty price for a QB2. Rather than getting released or traded, he agreed to lower his salary to $3.5MM. Of course, Mariota’s new deal makes him much more attractive to teams in need of QB support, so Mariota insisted on maintaining some control over his future.
No-trade clauses are pretty rare in the NFL. As of late February, these were the only nine players in the NFL with veto power in their contracts:
- Drew Brees, QB (Saints)
- Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, OL (Chiefs)
- Jimmy Garoppolo, QB (49ers
- Jimmy Graham, TE (Bears)
- DeAndre Hopkins, WR (Cardinals)
- Patrick Mahomes, QB (Chiefs)
- Deshaun Watson, QB (Texans)
- J.J. Watt, DL (Cardinals)
- Russell Wilson, QB (Seahawks)
Now, Mariota is an unexpected member of the club, so any teams with interest in the former second overall pick may have to look elsewhere.
Great deal for Raiders. Not sure why Mariota would agree to this. Pay cut and won’t have chance to start. Head scratcher to me
Free money brother. Expected to do no work and get paid
Speaking of free money, he gave $7M of it back just to keep his zip code. Not sure about that decision, unless he felt he was going to be waived and the guarantee for $3.5M was the same for the $10M.
I would have stuck with the 10.725 mil of free money.
It is puzzling, but there probably aren’t any starting positions left and if he was gonna backup anywhere he’d rather it be the Raiders. If they were willing to cut him at the beginning of fa he might have test the market.
It’s a shrewd business move. He looked good in the one game he played, and Raiders should have a good offense this year. By giving up money he will either get to showcase himself in an advantageous situation with the Raiders in the event of a Carr injury, or have total control over his next destination, this year if they attempt to trade him, next year in free agency. If a team wanted him as a starter this offseason the $10m salary wouldn’t have been an impediment for anyone. Win-win, really. He got paid a lot his first contract, and was able to secure a decent guarantee for his second. This was a smart move for his future in the league.
It goes further than that…his previous contract dictated that his salary jump to $20m if named the starting QB…that’s why trades weren’t happening…there was no motivation for a QB needy team to take a shot at him as a low cost QB
Sounds like he’s scared to try and find a starting job elsewhere.
Or like he wants control over where he might go, as he can waive the no-trade clause if a good option makes inquiries about him.
He likes Vegas, large Island community. Raiders held out until most of desirable spots were gone & $$$ allocated. Plus, he and Carr are friends.
Isn’t the 3rd stringer Peterman getting about 3 mil.. time for a major salary restructure.
1 million
One million too much.
Not to Peterman
You can remove Brees. Dude hung them up. Heck of a career he had!
I don’t see how that no trade clause benefits M&M unless he plans on pursuing a George Blanda type transition to kicker.
There’s a name I haven’t seen referenced in a minute! Good to know I’m not the only old guy here…