More Lito
So why should Eagles fans care about the fate of the Jets' Lito Sheppard and his $10 million bonus due next month? Haven't we moved on?
I wanted to post the actual number's in Lito Sheppard's new contract. The Jets gave him a four-year, $27.2 million extension that kicks in for 2010. He'll receive a $10 million bonus in March, 2010. For 2009, his contract will remain the same -- a $3 million base salary.
This is a huge deal, basically $30 million over five years. For that much money, he'd better revert to his Pro Bowl form.
Free-agent S Jim Leonhard arrived around 5 p.m. Saturday in Florham Park, N.J. There's a good chance he'll sign Sunday.
Remember Laveranues Coles? I'm hearing he'll make a decision Sunday, choosing between the Bills and Dolphins. The smart money is on the Dolphins.
UPDATE II: Interesting details are trickling in on the Sheppard contract. It's a complex, but clever deal by GM Mike Tannenbaum that protects the Jets if Sheppard is a bust.
Some tidbits:
• Technically, there's no guaranteed money in the contract. Sheppard will make $3 million this season, the same he would've made with the Eagles.
• In March, 2010, there's a $10 million option bonus. If the Jets decide to pay it, a new four-year, $27.2 million kicks in.
• If Sheppard is injured and misses considerable time, the Jets can get out of the deal after one year and they wouldn't owe the Eagles a draft pick in 2010. If that's the case, all it would've cost them is a fifth-round pick in the '09 draft. One person familiar with the deal said it could amount to a "one-year test drive" for the Jets.
• The conditional pick in '10 can rise to a second-rounder, but only if he hits an 85% playing-time plateau AND receives the four-year extension. And if that does happen, the Jets would get a fifth-rounder back from the Eagles.
• If Sheppard makes 85%, but doesn't receive the extension, the Jets would owe a third-rounder to the Eagles and would recoup a fifth rounder.
• Obviously, there are a number of different scenarios, and I won't bore you with them, but this is the essence of the trade. Bottom line: If Sheppard stinks, it'll be a one-year deal for $3 million and would cost them a fifth-round pick. If he becomes a full-time starter, the Jets probably will have to give up a second- or third-rounder in addition to this year's fifth and they'll have to pay him roughly what this year's top cornerback free agents (the Colts' Kelvin Hayden and the Ravens' Domonique Foxworth) received on their just-signed deals.
So basically after everything is said and done, Sheppard signed a one-year $3 million deal. A far cry from the 5 year, $30 million contract that agents and the press love to tout. And it's the same salary he would have got from the Eagles. The one (only?) benefit I can see from Sheppard's point of view is that the trade and new contract will allow him to become a free agent in 2010 - something that wasn't happening with his long-term contract with the Eagles. It was a risk considering his injury history but it looks like even without getting the $10 million from the Jets he's going to get a big signing bonus from some team.
Sheppard didn't meet the 85% threshold - he only played in 11 games but was a starter through the end of the season. And he's not likely to get the bonus either. So presumably the Eagles don't get that conditional 2010 pick.
What's intriguing in all of this is that the Eagles' 2010 draft site notes that the Eagles are sending their 5th rounder to the Jets as part of the Lito Sheppard deal and are getting the Jets' 4th rounder back. So have the Eagles and Jets worked out the contingencies of the Sheppard trade already or are there more adjustments to the picks coming (like, you know, the Jets getting more of their picks back)?
As it stands now, the Jets got Sheppard for one year and the Eagles 5th rounder in 2010 and the Eagles in return got the Jets 5th rounder in 2009 (#153 which turned out to be TE Cornelius Ingram) and their 4th rounder in 2010.
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