Denver Native (Carol)
03-22-2015, 10:41 AM
Until this free-agent signing period opened, with at least six teams forced to spend big to avoid penalty, the highest-paid No. 2 cornerback in NFL history was Chris Harris, who received an $8.5 million annual average from the Broncos in December.
Then Byron Maxwell, the "other" cornerback to Richard Sherman in Seattle, received from Philadelphia a contract worth $10.5 million per year, a 23.5 percent leap.
A year ago, two contract records were set at free safety — first by Jairus Byrd, who got $12.3 million in the first year of his new deal with New Orleans, then by Earl Thomas III, whose extension to stay with Seattle paid him $14.225 million in the first year.
Meanwhile, this year's free-agent market forced New England to pay Devin McCourty, a converted corner who has never made the Pro Bowl as a safety, $18 million this season alone — 26.5 percent greater than Earl Thomas' no-longer-record deal — to keep him inside the Patriots' doors.
"I think what we're seeing this year is really the idea of what the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was meant to be and that's get more cash into the veterans' hands," Broncos general manager John Elway said last week. "It's good for these guys. It's a little hard to get used to, but that's what the NFL is about now."
rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_27761731/nfl-now-its-pay-big-bucks-or-pay
Then Byron Maxwell, the "other" cornerback to Richard Sherman in Seattle, received from Philadelphia a contract worth $10.5 million per year, a 23.5 percent leap.
A year ago, two contract records were set at free safety — first by Jairus Byrd, who got $12.3 million in the first year of his new deal with New Orleans, then by Earl Thomas III, whose extension to stay with Seattle paid him $14.225 million in the first year.
Meanwhile, this year's free-agent market forced New England to pay Devin McCourty, a converted corner who has never made the Pro Bowl as a safety, $18 million this season alone — 26.5 percent greater than Earl Thomas' no-longer-record deal — to keep him inside the Patriots' doors.
"I think what we're seeing this year is really the idea of what the CBA (collective bargaining agreement) was meant to be and that's get more cash into the veterans' hands," Broncos general manager John Elway said last week. "It's good for these guys. It's a little hard to get used to, but that's what the NFL is about now."
rest - http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_27761731/nfl-now-its-pay-big-bucks-or-pay