Yesterday Kevin Kolb got a one-year extension on his original rookie deal that would have ended after the upcoming 2010 season. You can read all about the 30%-rule in the CBA that prevented a long-term deal from happening over at IgglesBlog with Sam. But here I’m just interested in the implications of the deal.
According to Adam Schefter, the extension is worth $12.25 million — completely guaranteed. You can take this different ways. Adam Caplan says Kolb went from the lowest-paid quarterback starter in the league, to the highest-paid per year. Kolb’s agent Jeff Nailey, not one to diminish an accomplishment, portrayed the deal as one that will pay his client “seventh or eighth among the best-paid quarterbacks in the NFL this season.” Both agreed that Kevin would make more per year than Donovan McNabb.
My first thought was, wow, that’s a lot of guaranteed money for a guy who’s only started two games. And it is. But on the other hand, this is really a two year deal — to raise Kolb’s salary this year (from a paltry base pay of $550,000), and then extend him for one more. That wouldn’t place the per year money as high as either Caplan or Nailey suggests. Either way, as Joe Banner said, neither side wanted to “put Kevin in the position where he was playing this year as one of the lowest-paid players on the team.” Or, as Tommy Lawlor writes, let Kolb play with less than his new back-up Michael Vick, which could have been a pain.
This also marks the beginning of a fruitful Kolb-Front Office dynamic. Both Banner and Kolb were talking in the same language about how this deal allowed them to “bridge the gap” to a long-term contract. Of course, it’s easy to be buddy-buddy when you go through a pretty easy negotiation. Kolb had all the leverage once the Eagles sent McNabb to the Redskins, and achieved about as much as he could have asked for. He must be happy if his agent is willing to go on record with thoughts like:
“They have no chance of losing him after this year. Kevin had no desire to go anywhere [else] after this year.”
Let’s see what gets floated to news outlets a year or two from now when both sides are working out a long term deal.