Raiders give Flynn considerably more guaranteed money

Reuters

If any of the teams in the top 10 are acquiring veteran quarterbacks to mask their interest in Geno Smith, the Raiders likely aren’t one of them.

Unless the Raiders are really committed to the smokescreen.

Per a source with knowledge of the transaction, the Raiders have adjusted Matt Flynn’s contract to increase his guaranteed money from $2 million in 2013 to $6.5 million.  All $6.5 million is fully guaranteed.

To get there, the Raiders increased Flynn’s base salary from $5.25 million in 2013 and decreased his 2014 base salary by $1.25 million, from $6.25 million down to $5 million.  Making the entire 2013 compensation fully guaranteed means that Flynn definitely will have a roster spot with the Raiders for the coming season.

Also, the available escalators and incentives were increased by $200,000, with a maximum value now at $26.4 million over three years.  Flynn already received $8 million from the Seahawks in 2012.

75 responses to “Raiders give Flynn considerably more guaranteed money

  1. Why? Is this like supposed to inspire him? Make him believe he is a starter?

  2. If there’s one thing a qb who has never proven anything needs, it’s more guaranteed money.

  3. huh ????
    increase ??
    Now im confused ?
    Only the Raiders would up the guarantee more money …guess we know who the starter is.
    So much for open competition….

  4. I have Flynn as my #3 QB in our dynasty league so this is a thrilling development.

    Good luck with the Raiders, Matt. They have some great, young receivers and a developing o-line behind Veldheer and Wisniewski, plus a return to the offensive scheme that was successful running the football before that airhead Greg Knapp screwed it up last season.

  5. One thing’s for sure…he’s a better former LSU QB than the last former LSU QB they had.

  6. Not bad for a 7th round draft pick with a lot of heart!

    (And where is Brian Brohm these days!?)

  7. The Raiders keep doing this to themselves… Even after Al passed they make me scratch my head on a seasonal basis.

  8. Wow, 8 mil from the Seahawks last year! For as many starts as he’s had in his career, this guys’ making some serious coin!!

  9. Read people. The Raiders already have tons of money in the cap this year, whats an extra 1.5 mil? If Flynn flops they can cut him and take less of a hit next year.

  10. makes sense, raider have last year of cap hell…after carson is off the books, and rolondo is released, raiders are at 38 million cap next year….granted that Veldheer, DMC, and L. Houston are all UFA , so could tag one resign the others.etc….but right now Reggie is set up with about 87 million under the cap next year, with out any rookies signed etc……in other words …mission accomplished

  11. The Matt Flynn situation reminds me of the Matt Shaub situation. A backup QB that had a couple really good games. Shaub hasnt turned out too bad,maybe Flynn will be ok

  12. Considerably more? Sounds like they just flipped money around. $6 mil a year isn’t much for a qb last time I checked either

  13. The Raiders and the Jets……what can you say. Unbelievable how inept these two teams are.

  14. The Raiders are indirectly conceding the 2013 season by taking as many of these hits as they can NOW this year to better position themselves for the future.

    For everyone that keeps saying this is the same old Raiders, clearly have not followed the Raiders. Al Davis never accepted losing Now, for hope of a better tomorrow. He was All-In, All-the-time.

  15. Cap management 101….figure it out people.

    And next year at this time we won’t be discussing QB needs. Plenty of other holes, definitely, but QB will NOT be one of them. Guaranteed.

  16. Strange year indeed! Wide receivers that average 60 to 70 catches a year and 600 receiving yards getting 50 60 million contracts. Back up QBs that hardly ever play get 15 million. What would Jerry Rice and Issac Bruce get these days? 1 billion over 7 years with 480 million guaranteed??!!!

  17. Such fun to watch all these jokes of QBs traded on April Fool’s day. LOL

  18. Raiders gave up a late round pick next year and a conditional late pick the following year for Flynn but even with the increase in guaranteed money, freed up 8 Million in CAP money, and will get an extra mid-late pick this year from the Cardinals once the trade for Palmer if complete.

    Sounds like a solid trade to free up cash, not lose picks and keep decent option at QB. RM keeps implementing a solid foundation for the Silver and Black!

  19. Here’s what I know. His former College Coach at A & M and the new OC at Miami as well as his OC at Green Bay and the new HC at Miami passed on him last year during the Matt Flynn sweepsteaks bacause they felt he was not worth the asking price, law of dimminishing returns. He goes to Seattle and gets beat out by a Rookie and now he’s gets traded to the Raiders and he’s getting straight cash thrown at him. Good for him but I think you Raider’s fans are in for a long season.

  20. Hmmm….
    Sure sounds like a quarterback competition.
    “Yes. We’ve guaranteed Flynn millions this year, but we’re going to start the project kid instead”
    Doesn’t seem likely.

  21. He’s more proven than a guy coming out of college. He played great in his two starts and looked pretty good in pre season this year would of looked better if it wasn’t for some TO drops. For what they gave up, including fettin rid of Palmer, I’m sure they don’t care about paying Flynn. His salary isn’t THAT bad for a QB in the NFL who could be a solid starter. His accuracy and football IQ has me believing he can def be a top 15 QB soon. He’s got about the same arm strength as Matt Ryan so people should stop talking about lack of arm strength. I’m just glad the Hawks got to move his salary and open up space to sign all our stars. I wouldn’t care if we traded him for a bag of cheetos. It’s worth the cap room.

  22. So, check it out. April Fools!

    Carson Palmer was traded to the Cardinals.
    Matt Flynn was traded to the Raiders.
    Colt McCoy was traded to the 49ers.
    John “Still Better Than Sanchez” Skelton was released.

    QB needy teams find ways to entertain us. Especially on April Fools day.

    It’s too bad the Cardinals didn’t wait two days to trade Kevin Kolb.

  23. Serious … giving an unproven QB more guaranteed money. This has to be a first … “In Reggie We Trust” … LMFAO
    Are those the only players Reggie can sign … Ex Packers who ride the bench or are cut and (out of football) players. I guess Reggie could not get a hold of JaMarcus or he was asking too much.

    0-16 baby … who is buying the Raiders and where are they moving too.

  24. Ummmm….I have been on board for most of the Reggie overhaul moves this season, but someone is going to have to explain this to me. I understand it frees us up to cut him for next to nothing next year, but aren’t we in cap trouble this year? I thought we were trying to get Carson to take a 3 million dollar pay cut. I also thought that we are responsible for 9 million and change of Palmer’s contract this year whether we dump him or not…even if he’s traded. Losing him only eliminates his salary for next year, and if he’s traded we would at least get some compensation for him rather than just dead money.

    Sooooo….If we are responsible for Palmer’s 9 million and now gave Flynn 6. 5 million guaranteed doesn’t that come to the same 15.5 million dollar cap hit that we would’ve had for keeping Palmer? What about this year’s cap number? Don’t we still have rookies to sign? A couple free agent DBs sure wouldn’t hurt either. I get losing Palmer this year to eliminate his dead money for next year, but that means we have more wiggle room on next year’s cap….sooooo why do we need to give Flynn a pay raise this year before he has done anything in order to save a million or two next year?….when we should be 15 or 20 million dollars less in the hole next year? I thought I was fairly intelligent, and I have been following this offseason very closely…but this one has me totally confused. Anyone got a grasp on this move???

  25. I’m glad at least one other Hawks fan noticed TO may have cost Flynn some competition points in his battle with Wilson in the preseason last year. (and I love Dangerruss). I always wondered if he had instructions to go to TO so Carroll could see what TO had left, but it seemed to back fire on Flynn. Wish him the best in Oakland Silver and Black. I will be watching their games now.

  26. Man, I just really want to punch spellingcops in the face so hard it knocks that stupid saying out of his head.

  27. Fleeced by the Raiders….are the Hawks……If they knew how much they really liked Flynn they would have insisted more compensation for the trade. Good for Flynn. He has huge expectations now set for his performance this coming season.

  28. When I go to sleep, and I dream, I often dream that I am Matt Flynn, and I am shopping for yachts. What a charmed life.

  29. Rick Mirer, Marques Tuiasosopo, Kerry Collins, Andrew Walter, Aaron Brooks, Josh McCown, Daunte Culpepper, JaMarcus Russell, Bruce Gradkowski, Charlie Frye, Jason Campbell, Kyle Boller, Carson Palmer, and Terrelle Pryor.

    I’ll take “Quarterbacks who have started for the Raiders since Rich Gannon’s career ended, Alex”

  30. Why they guaranteed any money makes no sense, I just hope the Raiders go back to running the ball like 2010- 2011, All they need is a game manager, I personally feel Pryor has more upside and more dynamic player overall than Flynn, with that been said build the D up, just hope the Palmer trade goes through and free more money to sing some decent guys on the D!

  31. A lot of people (myself included) panned the Rich Gannon acquisition that came with a pretty sizable contract for its time. Turned out pretty well In the end if you ask me!

  32. nomoreseasontix says: Apr 1, 2013 9:05 PM

    Hmmm….
    Sure sounds like a quarterback competition.
    “Yes. We’ve guaranteed Flynn millions this year, but we’re going to start the project kid instead”
    Doesn’t seem likely.

    ——————————————————

    Hey Seattle did it. Haaaaa….but I’m not holding my breath.

    What I will say about Flynn is this….Seattle GM Jon Schnieder was working with Reggie in Green Bay…he and Pete Carrol were both willing to bring in Flynn as the hopeful starter because they thought he had what it took…and Schneider had plenty of first hand knowledge of what Flynn had to offer. One year later Reggie is making a move because he believes the same thing….sooooo…this kid has to have shown something. Seattle was a rebuilding team that was ready to make a push with some good QB play…and we are completely rebuilding….but the offense can probably surprise some people this year if we get some good QB play.

    I’m not sure what the contract deal is, but I think Schneider won NFL executive of the year last year and he has a pretty impressive team…sooo…I’m not going to argue with that assessment. I also think Big Reg is on the right track. If he turns this franchise around….not just the team….the entire franchise….he deserves NFL executive of the century! Look, I’m just saying where there’s smoke there’s fire. The kid has to have something. I watched some video of the two starts…..as much as I could get my eyes on. I will say this. He makes good decisions. Did he makes some mistakes, sure…he has had two starts…but he made a lot of really great decisions. Most of the ones that I’m referring to were when he is under pressure. He went down and secured the ball when he was wrapped up, threw it away when he had no options, and fought off and scrambled when he could. I really liked what I saw.

    The best QB’s in the league aren’t the best because they run like Vick or Pryor….they’re great because the minimize their mistakes and give their team the best chance to win…..so I’m hopeful. That’s just my opinion. I’m no NFL scout, just a die hard fan with some faith that we have got something right for a change.

  33. This deal makes no sense in today’s NFL when the CBA allows you to move unused cap space to the next year. Why move 2014 money to 2013 and guarantee it when you don’t have to? Now if he flops, you lose an extra $1.25M. Raiders held all the leverage and it’s not like Flynn earned a raise, and if he plays well in 2013 he’ll complain he’s underpaid in 2014. This was so pointless lol. This is why they have $39M in dead money (and counting).

  34. If this guy’s as smart as I think he is, he’ll just barely lose the starting quarterback competition and never get his uniform dirty.

    This guy’s the Charlie Harper of the NFL…a genius.

  35. Someone needs to re-evaluate that magic crystal ball over their at Raiders HQ. This look’n into the future on players and trading/playing them for things they have yet to accomplish isn’t working out.

    So what that seems more “CAP” friendly – Raiders don’t even have players on the horizon to worry about paying.

  36. I personally know spellingcops by way of his mother. His step dad is a huge Raiders fan that occasionally beat him for being red headed. He now takes his anger out here on PFT. The poor bastard……

  37. How do you guarantee $ to a guy who has never proved anything. Just because he has played behind good QB’s doesn’t mean he’s going to be good. I think the Raiders are setting themselves up for Clowney next year.

  38. The reason why teams in top 10 keep acquiring QB’s ?
    Drumroll….cause Geno is the next Akili Smith and everyone knows it

  39. Flynn looked really good in the two nfl starts he has had, and he looked great in preseason last year. Personally I don’t think rw beat him out, rw just did well enough the the coaching staff could take a flyer on him.

    Good luck to Flynn. I think you Raider fans will be quite pleased.
    Go hawks!

  40. Give him a chance. He could turn out to be pretty damned good. He learned a lot from one of the best.

  41. murfdeezy:
    I’m not sure what the contract deal is, but I think Schneider won NFL executive of the year last year and he has a pretty impressive team…sooo…I’m not going to argue with that assessment.”
    _________________________________

    Nothing against John Schneider, but I’m pretty sure that Ryan Grigson of the Colts was NFL Executive of the Year.

  42. Just wait and see you RM haters. This guy is a football genious thats why most of cant keep up until we start crunching numbers. Next year he will be just about 90 mil in cap space to work with. More changes will come, cuts made and big players moving in for a piece of that pie. Cuz we all know that the one with the most chips wins!

  43. The Raiders will have $50 mil plus in cap room next season, likely a top pick in next years draft, if people could look to the future albeit one year you will see what the Raiders are doing. Now is the perfect time for rebuild also, considering Manning & the Broncos have this division locked up for the next 1-2 years.

  44. Has an NFL player ever made more money for doing so little in an NFL career to date? Flynn has had ONE GOOD GAME AS A BACKUP in his life and is a multi-millionaire because of it!!! At least JaMarcus Russell played a few seasons and was horrible for his paycheck…….Flynn has DONE NOTHING! What a joke!!!

  45. And yet no Seahawk fan will mention the 8M paid to the one year backup. They will gloat about their savvy GM and their endless and futile trophy quest instead.

  46. The Raiders are currently $4.3m under the cap with Flynn’s trade, but once Palmer leaves it will create $6m in cap space with another $4m coming on June 1st when Michael Huff’s salary falls off the books. (Huff was given the designated Jun 1st cut which allows him to become a free agent immediately instead of waiting till June when most teams have filled their rosters and spent most of their cap money). Salary cap rules mean that Huff’s $7.288m cap figure must still count against the Raiders cap until Jun 1st. $3.288m will then count as dead money which leaves the extra $4m in cap space. The Raiders would then pay the rest of Huff’s dead money ($6.576m) on the 2014 cap.

    McClain will be next for the axe and if he’s a Jun 1st cut the Raiders can also spread his dead money cost over two seasons and save another $2.7m in cap room for 2013. That would leave Oakland with $17m in cap space before this year’s rookie class are signed, despite having approx $46m in dead money.

    The good news is that by the start of the 2014 offseason the Raiders cap figure will only be $38m for veterans currently under contract plus the final instalment of dead money for Huff and McClain. Once you adjust for this year’s rookie class and any cap rollover the Raiders will be flush with cap space which can be used to re-sign some of the few good young players they have like Veldheer, Wisniewski and Houston.

  47. Terrelle Pryor has higher upside than Flynn and should be given a chance to compete for the starting job.

  48. Pete Carroll and company just proved thier worth by getting rid of an average college QB that had two good NFL games and saving some good money in the process. Hey Oakland, aren’t you tired of getting bad draft picks and overpaying for retreads?

    A Rich Gannon only happens once in a lifetime. Now you are reaching for a straw….one that couldn’t even start in college full time.

    Good luck… you will need it.

  49. The reason they uped the guaranteed money for this year is it makes so they’re is no guaranteed money left on contract for next year.Which makes it a case were if they cut him in 2014 they loose nothing in cap space.

  50. You know they never really give enough details when it comes to contracts. With that said, I’m willing to bet that next year at least $1.25 million of his contract was guaranteed, so the Raiders just moved money they were going to have to pay up a year. Now guaranteeing all the money this year is really not a big deal, doesn’t mean he is going to be the starter, it just means that after trading two draft picks he will have a spot on the team. He could be the number 1, 2, or even 3 QB, but he will be one of them. Seems Reggie is setting the Raiders up good, cap wise. Personally I liked Palmer, and wish the Raiders could of kept him and got a true number one wide receiver. Last year they had a lot of number 2 and 3WR, but none that truly stood out as a number 1, though I must say their is potential there. Take away all the dropped balls, and bad routes and Palmers numbers would of been much better. Some of his stats are better then Flacco, and next season if he is throwing to Fitzgerald, I can see some pretty nice stats. I think Reggie was looking at the potential of Flynn being around longer then Palmer, so he could be a long term fix at QB, where Palmer is older, so a short term fix. Young receivers and a younger QB, has the potential of 6 to 9 years of solid offense.

  51. I don’t really get the point of this article. All they did was move guaranteed money from 2014 into this season and raise the base salary by 1.5 mil. Considering they traded picks for him they obviously want him on the team for this year. Moving all the guaranteed money into base for the current season just gives them more financial flexibility in 2014 if things dont work out this year. They were going to pay him the 5 mil base regardless provided he was on the roster all year and then in 2014 they would have had to take a cap hit if they wanted to release him.

  52. Who’s he throwing to, anyway? Denarius Moore? Jacoby “Don’t look at me, I’m a KR not a WR” Ford?

    Poor guy. Out of the featherbed and into the fire….

  53. I’ll be honest, I love my Seahawks but they got robbed. Flynn was worth a third rounder easy. Still, it’s hard to argue with free picks, which is essentially what these are for Seattle, having spent nothing in terms of draft picks to get Flynn and now own a fifth and a conditional, maybe another fifth. That would mean for three years running ( counting the Curry trade) we will be drafting the Raiders’ fifth rounder. Richard Sherman was a fifth rounder. Thanks, Oakland.

  54. We are a brand new sports website that will change the landscape of sports forever. Excellent write ups, news and rumors about all from the NFL to UFC we will even write about WWE. We will have the most talented group of writers in the world at GO FOR TWO SPORTS! starting in May 2013… gofortwosports.wordpress.com/
    ———————————————————
    Now onto this situation, It was only 2 years ago that ESPN and NFL network was saying Matt Flynn is going to be a super star in the NFL. Flynn never got a chance in Seattle since Pete Carroll wanted a College QB. The organization wanted Flynn but Carroll wanted Wilson. Carroll will tell you Wilson beat out Flynn but I don’t buy it. I believe that Flynn will be a superstar in the NFL. People forget Matt Flynn just did not have1 amazing game against the Lions but he also came very close to beating Tom Brady.

  55. It’s great watching the faid fans trying to justify this move. It’s worse than the move we made for an actual QB.

    You still need a QB, duh.

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