Gumbo
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- Mar 19, 2019
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Saints receiver Michael Thomas was due to make $1.1 million in 2019, the last year of his rookie contract. Instead, he’ll make $20 million merely by signing his name to his second contract.
Per a source with knowledge of the deal, Thomas gets a $20 million signing bonus as part of his new, six-year contract.
Yes, it’s a five-year extension. But that makes it a six-year contract, with a total value of $101.1 million. Over six years, the average payout is $16.85 million.
Still, he got his five-year, $100 million contract now, shifting the injury risk to the Saints without having to play out the last year of his contract at only $1.1 million.
The deal ended up at the new-money value that Thomas wanted: $100 million. So he’ll be happy for now. The question is whether he’ll be happy come 2022, when he has three years left and the salary cap has spiked due to the new CBA, the new TV deals, and the new gambling revenue streams.
Of course, if he’s not happy in 2022, he can try to renegotiate. And he can holdout again, if need be. He did it in 2019, and it worked. Maybe it will work again.