RODGERS BASE SALARY FOR 2008? $23.7 MILLION
Posted by Mike Florio on November 4, 2008, 5:24 p.m.
As it turns out, the contract signed by
the Packers and Aaron Rodgers was completed on Saturday, November 1. The fact that it
didn’t show up on a computer system available to teams prompted some to conclude that the deal wasn’t completed before the November 3 deadline for counting 2008 salary increases against the 2008 salary cap.
So the
Packers were able to take advantage of this tweak in the rules.
And did they ever.
Rodgers’ 2008 base salary was increase from $680,000 to a whopping $23.7 million. Since half the 2008 season is over, he’ll receive
$12.9 million in total 2008 base salary. (The numbers were first reported by Rob Demovsky of the
Green Bay Press-Gazette.)
Rodgers also is due to receive a $7.42 million roster bonus in early 2009, which as we’re told is fully guaranteed for skill and injury.
Per Demovsky, the deal includes non-guaranteed base salaries of $680,000 in 2009, $6 million in 2010, $7.25 million in 2011, $8 million in 2012, $9.25 million in 2013, and $10.5 million in 2014.
In the end, Rodgers’ cap number for 2008 went from $1.7 million to $13.9 million. And this means that the Packers are now well above the spending minimum — and that they still have more than $8 million or so to spend in 2008, if they so choose.