A team’s view of a player almost always is revealed by what the team will pay him. The Packers will pay Julius Peppers a maximum of $30 million over three years.
That’s what Peppers’ agent, Carl Carey, told Josina Anderson of ESPN. But the devil always resides in details disseminated by agents before the official numbers are reported.
“Maximum” means there are escalators and/or incentives and/or per-game roster bonuses that require Peppers to achieve certain goals in order to get the money. Without knowing the goals, it’s impossible to know whether he’ll come close to the $10 million annual average.
Carey also tells Anderson that $7.5 million is guaranteed. As usual, the amount fully guaranteed at signing (versus the money guaranteed for injury only at signing) isn’t disclosed by the agent.
For 2014, Peppers will receive $8.5 million total. Based on the manner in which guys like Ross Tucker and Shaun King have assessed for Pro Football Talk on NBCSN the tape of Peppers’ recent performances, that’s probably a pretty good deal.
At a time when it’s tempting to compare the Peppers signing to the 1992 acquisition of Reggie White or the 2006 signing of Charles Woodson, the nostalgia comes more from the size of the name and the rarity of the transaction than from the actual impact the player will make on the field.