Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:47 pm Posts: 13660 Location: Long Island Gender: Male
The Indianapolis Colts on Wednesday achieved their second contract milestone of the season, reaching agreement on a seven-year, $67 million extension with wide receiver Marvin Harrison.
Harrison, who was scheduled to enter free agency after this season, is guaranteed $22 million between now and 2006 and received a $6 million signing bonus. He is making $5.56 million this season.
Earlier this year, the Colts locked up quarterback Peyton Manning with a seven-year, $98 million deal that included a $34 million signing bonus.
Harrison, 32, is considered one of the best receivers in the league and is the focal point of the Colts' powerful offense. He draws consistent double coverage and allows Reggie Wayne and Brandon Stokley to excel against single coverage.
The structure of Harrison's contract will allow enough flexibility for the Colts to try to find a way to keep running back Edgerrin James. There is a $7 million roster bonus that can be converted into a signing bonus in order to lower Harrison's cap number in 2005 to around only $3.2 million.
There also is a $10 million flexible roster bonus that can be converted into signing bonus to help the salary cap in 2006.
The Harrison deal is considered the best ever given to a wide receiver. Randy Moss had the previous best deal for a player at the position, an eight-year, $75 million contract that included $18 million in guarantees.
The surprising part about Harrison's contract is that he received it at age 32. Though many top receivers have some of their best seasons in their 30s, a lot of teams don't like giving big-money deals to older receivers.
The Colts had no problem doing this because Harrison has been such a valuable part of their offense along with the fact he is one of the best-conditioned athletes on the team.
Negotiations concluded Tuesday night and the deal was sent into the league office Wednesday morning for approval. Once it was approved, it went into the league's salary cap system.
Harrison's agent, Tom Condon, was unavailable for comment.
Condon also negotiated Manning's deal, which was the most given to any quarterback.
Along with James, Stokley will be among the Colts' next targets for re-signing. He's a free agent after this season.
Although the contract technically has $23 million of guarantees, the deal counts only as $22 million because the Colts lowered $1 million of his remaining contract to fit it into this year's cap.
Senior writer John Clayton covers the NFL for ESPN.com.
Nice!!! We get James to sign and that Colts offense is set for another 6 years. Once the young defensive players start fitting in the Colts will be a force for many years. 3 cheers for Marvin!
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:47 pm Posts: 13660 Location: Long Island Gender: Male
davo15 wrote:
yikes, that seems too long to me.
it might be a year or two long but you gotta hook Marvin up. The guy has been a class act his whole time with the Colts. I think he deserved it. Plus he's in great shape and never gets hurt. I like the deal.
it might be a year or two long but you gotta hook Marvin up. The guy has been a class act his whole time with the Colts. I think he deserved it. Plus he's in great shape and never gets hurt. I like the deal.
No doubt it's a great deal now, but in four or five years it might not look like such a good decision. I guess if they win a super bowl or two in that time span it won't matter as much.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:03 pm Posts: 26481 Location: virginia Gender: Male
has anyone heard weather james is wanting to stay with the team, or if he is wanting to make huge money?
if they can keep him also they will have one of the best offenses for a long time.
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 2:47 pm Posts: 13660 Location: Long Island Gender: Male
jlvsprljam wrote:
has anyone heard weather james is wanting to stay with the team, or if he is wanting to make huge money? if they can keep him also they will have one of the best offenses for a long time.
I think he's going to test the market and i wouldn't be surprised if he left for Miami or somewhere else. I don't think he wants to show his hand yet so his asking price can be that much more. I'd like to see him stay cause he looks the best he ever has this year but with that offense i don't think it would be that hard to replace him. He just fits so well with their offense though so i hope they can keep him. If not they will probably spend the money on defense which isn't a bad thing
Joined: Wed Oct 20, 2004 3:26 am Posts: 7994 Location: Philadelphia
Quote:
No doubt it's a great deal now, but in four or five years it might not look like such a good decision. I guess if they win a super bowl or two in that time span it won't matter as much.
Don't forget that the contract is not guaranteed so he will most likely never see the last few years of the contract. They had to make the move.
The only problem I see is they are going to have problems signing any kind of impact defensive player. They better have some great drafts.
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 5:57 pm Posts: 941 Location: Buffalo
So...when are you guys going to spend some dough on the defense?
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:35 am Posts: 5981 Location: Bel-Air Gender: Male
Good. Now Marvin and Peyton can retire as Colts. Marvin will go down as one of the best recivers ever and he wont look like Jerry Rice trying to find a team that will throw him the ball.
P.S.
I dont live in Philly, I live in Indianapolis. (The Fresh Prince lives in Philly.)
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Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:03 pm Posts: 26481 Location: virginia Gender: Male
Clubber wrote:
jlvsprljam wrote:
has anyone heard weather james is wanting to stay with the team, or if he is wanting to make huge money? if they can keep him also they will have one of the best offenses for a long time.
I think he's going to test the market and i wouldn't be surprised if he left for Miami or somewhere else. I don't think he wants to show his hand yet so his asking price can be that much more. I'd like to see him stay cause he looks the best he ever has this year but with that offense i don't think it would be that hard to replace him. He just fits so well with their offense though so i hope they can keep him. If not they will probably spend the money on defense which isn't a bad thing
yea i guess haveing the money for some defense would be a good thing, and they could always just draft another RB and he could be a good fit with their offense. and also it seems that dominic rhodes has played well when filling in for james. i just like seeing teams that can stay together for long times, im not a colts fan, though i like watching them play, i want to see that awsome offense stay together for a few years and see what kind of records fall
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actually, they decided to take this year off, but are already planning for a triumphant return next season, and plans of knocking the weenie colts on their softie asses are already being put in place.
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