Clay has a new deal-5 years, $66 million

[Profound23]

Ted just signed the top (potential) free agent of 2014......who is better than any free agent signed in 2013, 2012, 2011...........

Thanks to our GM for keeping the capspace open in order to get this deal done and have most of the money front loaded so we won't be in caphell.

[FAH1223]

It looks like after 2013, which is Clay's last on his rookie deal along with mot of the guaranteed cash being paid out between now and the end of the season.. this deal REALLY is 5 years $38 million.

Good move by Ted.

[RiotPunch]

Love that it is front-loaded. More flexibility down the road. Feels great to lock up the Claymaker for his best years. Now for Aaron, B.J. and Sammy!!

[mnWI]

Should have signed Chris Canty and Antoine Winfield instead. Nice going TT

[eagle13]

Thank you God & TT!

[Bucksfans1and2]

Fair deal. Glad to have him as a Packer.

[MikeIsGood]

Woot woot - awesome. He's locked in with the Packers for his prime.

[MikeIsGood]

Top 10 defensive player locked in for his whole prime. Boom.

I like your thinking.

[Profound23]

Should have signed Chris Canty and Antoine Winfield instead. Nice going TT

and greg jennings

[Jollay]

Very good deal. Hopefully frontloading this and Rodgers will give us the flexibility to give us some vet help 3-5 years in the future if we need it to get us over the hump.

[Kerb Hohl]

Very good deal. Hopefully frontloading this and Rodgers will give us the flexibility to give us some vet help 3-5 years in the future if we need it to get us over the hump.

Or to re-sign the next superstar we draft.

[zmanishere11]

It's not possible to "front load Rodgers new contract." The dude is going to get $22 - $25 mil / year over probably 6 years. You can't just throw $50 mil into the cap one year, or even $30 m in back to back years.

To me, that's the deal you you start at $12 m / year and increase over the life of the deal with a huge signing bonus, similar to what the Ravens did with Flacco.

I actually don't mind the Flacco deal at all for the Ravens - they get him for next to nothing for the next 3 years, and if his salary explodes and he's actually worth it - who cares? If he turns into Carson Palmer - cut him and start with someone new. Yeah you'll have some dead cap thanks to the $29 mil signing bonus this year - but your new guy will likely cost next to nothing, and you're commited to the guy for the next 3 years thanks to his play as of late anyways. If he falls some place in between where he's paid and where he's played, he almost HAS to renegotiate.

Regardless - REAL happy with the CM3 deal!!!

[zmanishere11]

Let's say they tore up Rodgers contract and gave him 6 years, 135 mil, $35 mil bonus (flacco got 6, 120 mil, 29 mil bonus):

Bonus salary Cap hit
5.833333333 12 17.83333333
5.833333333 14 19.83333333
5.833333333 16 21.83333333
5.833333333 18 23.83333333
5.833333333 20 25.83333333
5.833333333 20 25.83333333

35 100 135

You can work around that deal.

Now lets say we did half of his signing bonus as a roster bonus this year to get the cap hit now:

Bonus salary Cap hit
20.41666667 12 32.41666667
2.916666667 14 16.91666667
2.916666667 16 18.91666667
2.916666667 18 20.91666667
2.916666667 20 22.91666667
2.916666667 20 22.91666667

35 100 135

So yeah we save 2.5 mil / year over the life of the deal, but you have to hide $32.5 mil this year!!! Not worth it - and impossible anyways.

[emunney]

Very good deal. Hopefully frontloading this and Rodgers will give us the flexibility to give us some vet help 3-5 years in the future if we need it to get us over the hump.

Or to re-sign the next superstar we draft.

Pretty much. With all the Shields, Rodgers, Clay talk, we've forgotten about Raji, EDS if he works out, Finley if he works out, then the next year you're looking at guys like Bishop, Jordy, Cobb, Bulaga, not to mention House, Tramon, ... if these guys all play well, we're not going to be able to keep them all with or without signing outside FAs. But the nature of the game is such that some of them will get hurt, some of them will not play well, other guys will ascend, etc. All we can do is try to get as many things right as we can, whether it's a re-signing, a draft choice, etc., and let the chips fall where they may.

[Jollay]

if these guys all play well, we're not going to be able to keep them all

If those guys all play well, I'm cool with losing a few and not getting vet help to get over the hump down the road because we'll probably have won another super bowl in that scenerio. IE we'll be over that hump already.

[Bucksfans1and2]

Tramon Williams isn't gonna be around for much longer. That's gonna free up some space. That money is going to go Shields and Hayward. House is gonna need to be a player.