Michael82
03-05-2004, 03:09 PM
The Bengals have kicker Shayne Graham for the next five years after they matched the Jaguars’ five-year, 6.5 million offer sheet Friday that puts him in the top five of the highest paid kickers in the NFL.
But it came at a steep price for the Bengals because it probably is going to cost them one free agent in this signing period since the hit on the salary cap for this year is $1.1 million compared to the $628,000 the club offered him as a restricted free agent for 2004.
The Bengals could have deterred teams from signing Graham if they had offered him $1.38 million so the compensation would have been a first-round pick instead of nothing. But they were trying to save $700,000 so they could use it on another free agent.
As it was, the overall average of the contract is $1.3 million and ties him with Jeff Wilkins of the Rams for the fifth highest in the NFL, and now they have him for five years for what agent Rob Roche called “one of the best kicking contracts in the league,” primarily because of $3 million in guaranteed money. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, his $2 million signing bonus is guaranteed along with $500,000 in each of the last two years of the deal.
http://www.bengals.com/press/news.asp?iCurPage=0&news_id=2139#cont
But it came at a steep price for the Bengals because it probably is going to cost them one free agent in this signing period since the hit on the salary cap for this year is $1.1 million compared to the $628,000 the club offered him as a restricted free agent for 2004.
The Bengals could have deterred teams from signing Graham if they had offered him $1.38 million so the compensation would have been a first-round pick instead of nothing. But they were trying to save $700,000 so they could use it on another free agent.
As it was, the overall average of the contract is $1.3 million and ties him with Jeff Wilkins of the Rams for the fifth highest in the NFL, and now they have him for five years for what agent Rob Roche called “one of the best kicking contracts in the league,” primarily because of $3 million in guaranteed money. According to The Cincinnati Enquirer, his $2 million signing bonus is guaranteed along with $500,000 in each of the last two years of the deal.
http://www.bengals.com/press/news.asp?iCurPage=0&news_id=2139#cont