When it comes to the initial reports regarding the value of linebacker (once again) Elvis Dumervil’s five-year deal in Baltimore, the key words are “up to.”
Adam Schefter of ESPN has reported that the contract is worth “up to” $35 million. And while we have no reason to dispute that, the contract has a base value of $26 million, per a source with knowledge of the deal.
Dumervil will, as others have reported, earn $8.5 million in 2013, with a cap number of only $2.5 million. This means that, at some point, the Ravens will carry an extra $6 million on future salary cap(s) under Dumervil’s name.
And so the base deal ends up being 64 percent of the five-year, $40.5 million contract linebacker Paul Kruger signed in Cleveland. Even if Dumervil hits every incentive and earns an extra $9 million, the Ravens still got Dumervil at $5.5 million cheaper than Kruger would have cost.