Did Peyton Sign?
 

Does anybody know if Peyton Manning signed his long term contract? I know Bill Polian set a deadline of last night even though he can continue negotiating til the 17th.

Ask and ESPN shall deliver:

hxxp://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/columns/story?columnist=pasquarelli_len&id=1748909

That's f'in ridiculous. As I recall, the previous high signing bonus was McNabb's $20 million. Peyton gets $34 million?!!!! I know football contracts are less straight-forward than baseball contracts, but on the face of it, this looks like the NFL equiavlent to A-Rod's deal - so far above the next guy that it is bordering on insane. Especially when the team is dealing with a salary cap.

So he counts like 18 million a year on their cap???? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

He's worth every penny.

just for the record, what team are you a fan of?

Nah Peyton is a nice guy who would never do that to his team. Alex was the Anit-Christ :rolleyes:

an average of 14.18 per year. Until we see the year-by-year breakdown, we don't know what it is in any given year.

I don't blame Peyton for taking the money any more than I blame A-Rod. I just can't believe the Colts would do something like this. I hope the specifics of the contract make it less insane than it appears, or that this is some kind of deal spun by his agent to make the agent look good (like Boras getting Maddux's deal reported at 3 years, $24M, when it was really 2 years, $15M). Otherwise, the Colts have put themselves in a large hole.

I can understand making him the highest paid QB in the game...but rather than having a Nick Saban-like "pay me $1 more than the highest paid coach" clause, this is like Saban wanting $5.5M a year, when the next guy is at $3M a year. A bit overboard.

14 would be a good deal for them. Either way they have no choice. Manning basically can hold them at gunpoint. What are they going to cut him? Doubtful. It's funny that they are kind of painted into a corner and forced to pay 20-25% of their cap on one guy because he's good. Again if it's only 14 for the next few years I guess that is a good thing and will allow them to sign some guys...

It's an average of 14.17 or so a year. 2004 cap hit is like 8.3 million, over 10 million less than the Franchise Tag would have cost.

And, well, he's just this much better then McNabb.

Thats what they said when Bledsoe signed his 100 mil contract. No quarterback is worth that much. All it does is keep you from building a good team. But hey, you have a hell of a QB.

And what happens if he gets injured ?

I mean, I don't wish that at all, but playing one of the most dangerous positions in the NFL, there is definitely an injury risk, right ?

I guess it's a risk they felt was worth taking. He's been an iron man so far.

He counted something like $15M against the cap last year and the Colts saved $10M+ by cutting Bratzke and Meadows so they should be okay this year. They've also shown a willingness to let overpaid players go when a cheaper replacement is available (ie not even trying to resign Petersen last offseason even though he was their best defensive player) so they can afford to overpay the guys who are irreplaceable.

The Colts could simply not afford to let him go. Could you imagine being known as the franchise that let both Elway AND Manning get away? Can you imagine being a fan of the franchise known for that?

I do wonder what he'd fetch on the trade market though. I was wondering if a team would've tried to sign him for two first round picks. I'd certainly give up at least two number 1 draft picks for him, but I doubt they would give him up for that. The big thing as eveyone else has mentioned is can you build a good team around him with such a drain on the cap coming from one player? You'd have to manage the cap awfully well and get very lucky with draft picks.

dola

And even more interesting will be towards the end of his contract. He'll cost so much in bonus money that releasing him would cause prohibitive damage to their cap, but restructuring just means an even more enormous headache at some point. Colts fans, enjoy the next few years because four years from now, they will be firmly in cap hell.

I don't know if I really believe that. Remember, the salary cap will also be rising, so his relative salary (% of the cap) probably won't raise much at all. I don' think the Colts will be in much worse shape 5 years from now than they are at this minute.

I am in agreement no football player is worth the millions that they get paid, but if anyone was it would be Peyton. His leadership and work ethic are fantastic role models for the rest of the team, plus his off the field contributions make him one of the poster children of the NFL. The Colts wont be in bad shape in a few years, they will rework his contract a few years down the road just so tey dont end up in this position again. And if it brings them a super bowl I , as a Clts fan, dont care if they end up with a year or two of cap problems.