The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Bess signed a 2 year contract extension

being reported by JAY GLAZER

Thank you,music to my ears....Now go Pay Mr Wake, make sure he's locked up for the Dolphins for at least the next 3-4 more years....

Sun sentinal link,I'm nervous to hear He's the highest paid slot receiver...I love ya...But what kind of money are we talking?
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-sign-bess-1018-20101017,0,7644531.story (http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-dolphins/fl-dolphins-sign-bess-1018-20101017,0,7644531.story)

Very glad to hear that Bess is going to be a Dolphin for a few more years...hope we didn't pay "too much," but I see Bess as being a level above what is generally considered a "slot receiver" anyway...he's our true #2 behind Marshall, and our primary punt returner to boot. Dude is mighty mouse in cleats, and for all the big plays he makes for this squad, I'm glad that he's getting paid.

highest paid slot WR, 2nd highest paid WR, highest paid LB of all time, highest paid RT in the NFL, highest paid LT in the NFL...........if we don't make the playoffs the coaching staff has no excuses!!!

Contract amounts are completely fictitious these days. The nominal amount reported by the media more often than not bears no semblance to the amount actually paid to the player.

Comparing the details of Marshall's contract to that of other top receivers signed in recent years, I actually think we got a really good deal.

Overall, it's a 5-year $47.3 M contract. That's $9.46 M a year, which would slot him as the 5th-highest paid receiver as of early Feb. this year (I don't have newer numbers in a nice table). Ochocinco, Steve Smith, Larry Fitzgerald, and Antonio Bryant all have higher avg-per-year contract totals.

They included some bogus extra payments to get his deal to look better on paper, including a $3M bonus in 2014 contingent on Marshall participating in 95% of all special teams plays.

Additionally, the guaranteed amount widely reported as $24 million, comes with a lot of caveats. His $4 million 2010 salary is guaranteed, no touching that, since he signed his restricted free agent tender in Denver. Add to that his $5.5 million signing bonus. That's $9.5 million. Besides that amount, the only money the Dolphins are on the hook for right now is $3 million of future salary / bonuses. And even that would be recouped out of any salary he received elsewhere.

In reality, that's $12.5 million guaranteed for a 1-year contract with a club option of an additional 4 years at $34.8 million, of which $11.5 million would be guaranteed.

Sure, that's not a cheap 1-year deal (especially considering the twin second round draft picks), but considering that the rest of the contract is a real sweet-heart deal, I have absolutely no problem with it. If you compare the 4-year option with top contracts pre-2010 (again, I have no neatly ordered 2010 data available), the guaranteed amount ranks 8th among top avg-per-year deals.

So, the Dolphins are giving Marshall a look this year and if he's "the real deal", he'll be the 5th best paid receiver (pre-2010), with very, very low guaranteed amounts left, making it easy to cut him in the future should a salary cap be reintroduced (and his performance decline).

Glad to see Bess locked up. The last thing we needed was to lose him in another crazy situation.