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Ryan Clady and Denver have agreed to a five-year, $57.5 million contract, including $33 million guaranteed.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2013
Pro-Bowl LT Ryan Clady and the Denver Broncos have agreed to terms on a contract extension. Clady was tagged as the Broncos franchise player this past offseason, and though the deal would have paid him 9.8 million guaranteed, it was not the longterm deal he was seeking. Things picked up between the Broncos and Ryan this past week as both sides wanted to get the deal done before the July 15th deadline. Had a deal not gotten done, the Broncos would have had to wait until next league year to enter back into negotiations on a long term deal.
The deal will pay him more than the average amount that Jason Peters inked with the Eagles (10.1 average per season with 25 million guaranteed) and will match the 11.5 million average and and put him just behind 44 million guarantees Joe Thomas received with his extension.
All in all, this was about what I expected. I stated a couple weeks ago a good deal would be in the neighborhood of 5 years-55 million with 30-35 million guaranteed. Don't get caught up in the fact that it is a five-year deal. In the NFL, only the guaranteed portion of the contract has meaning. If the rumors are correct and the guaranteed money will be paid over the first three years of the deal, this is essentially a three-year deal. Any potential dead money in years 4-5 will depend on signing bonus and other roster/performance bonuses given. For example, a signing bonus of 15 million would give Clady a dead money number of 3 million in years 4/5 of the deal.
Hopefully this is just one of many contracts in the next calendar year the Broncos ink with their young talent. What say you MHR, do you like the deal?
UPDATE
The up-front money for Clady: $13.5 million.
— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) July 15, 2013
Check that. 15-million in year one for Clady. Bonus play salary. Okay, I'm done with numbers. Let's ball.
— Vic Lombardi (@VicLombardi) July 15, 2013
Via NFL.Com and Albert Breer, the max value of the deal is 57.5 million:
Per Breer, Clady's deal will jump to $57.5 million in total if he is named to the All-Pro team twice during the life of the contract. He already is a three-time All-Pro. If he maxes out the contract, it will make him the third-highest paid lineman in the game behind Thomas and Jason Peters.
As stated Clady has already been named an All-Pro three times in his career so it isn't a stretch to think he could reach that escalator in the contract.