This news will soon be on every other Vikings-focused blog, so why not put it on here as well?
Don't get all hot and bothered that the Vikings signed the 32-year-old Winfield to a five-year extension for big money – an extension he almost certainly won't complete with the Vikings.
This is a deal for this year and next year (and if Winfield's body holds up, the year after that). It keeps a valuable member of the team in the fold for as long as they want him. It keeps Winfield happy and avoids any training camp nonsense where he's grousing about his contract status. And it shows other Viking veterans and veterans around the league that Minnesota takes care of its star players - even older ones – if they are still playing at a high level.
I just hope Winfield has three more good years left in the tank.
Update
So much for worrying about the Vikings getting saddled with paying big bucks for past production. Antoine Winfield's new contract will pay him like a starting cornerback as long as he stays in that role and pay him like a nickel back if he can't hold onto to the starting job.
I like this approach by the Vikings. And I like the fact Winfield and his agent were willing to be flexible in drawing up the extension. It sounds like Winfield really did want to end his career as a Viking.
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2 comments:
I was curious to see if you had written on this... All I heard this morning was 5 years, 36 million, 16 million in guarantees. I guessed that it was probably a back-heavy and incentive-laced contract, but didn't know for sure. If you don't think Minnesota overpaid, then I feel better about it. I like Winfield but did NOT want to see the Vikings pay for memories.
Peter:
What I like about the deal is that if Winfield loses his starting job down the road and becomes more of a nickel corner, his base salary drops by about half, according to Judd Zulgad's blog post.
That, plus it looks like he's getting all that guaranteed money now, should mean his cap hit in year four and five of this deal will be minimal by NFL standards. But I'm not much of a salary cap expert.
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