NFL Football Revealed on Squib Kick

Donte Stallworth goes deep for New England

by James on March 13th, 2007

NFL Football at its best. NFL Football at its craziest.

A Big Step for Donte’ to be a Patriot

Some are saying “Hello Super Bowl”.

The Patriots have signed Donte Stallworth with a bizarre contract that is either big money and 6 years or little money and 1 year or, most likely, somewhere in between the two.

It took them two years to replace Deion Branch as a deep threat.

Deion was a… favorite target of Tom Brady and, along with David Givens, gave the Patriots a one two punch to rival almost any team in the league.

Last years last ditch effort to land a pair of receivers failed and ultimately the Patriots came up just a little short in their effort against the Colts.

Next year the Patriots will have a healthy Lawrence Maroney, who won’t be a rookie anymore, to go along with Donte Stallworth and the recently signed Wes Welker from the Dolphins. Welker is more of a possession receiver and should thrive in the Patriots pass control offense.

Oh, and that bizarre contract?

To get Stallworth, the Patriots agreed to pay him a $1 million signing bonus, a $300,000 workout bonus, $700,000 base salary and a $1.6 million roster bonus if Stallworth makes the 53-man roster. He has another $400,000 in incentives.

In 2008, the Patriots will have to decide on whether to give Stallworth a $6 million option bonus. If so, Stallworth would receive another $2 million roster bonus on the first day of the league year in March of that year, $400,000 workout bonus, $1 million base salary and a $1.6 million bonus for making the 53-man roster. That’s a total of $11 million that Stallworth could earn in the second year of the deal.

From there, Stallworth can earn another $18.5 million over the final four years of the contract in a similar combination of bonuses and base salary. source

Why the strange contract that could turn into a 1 year and done? Well, there are risks.

Both the Eagles and Saints had to endure Stallworth’s steady stream of minor injuries, most of them muscle-related. Stallworth missed four games with a hamstring problem last year and has played all 16 games only twice in his career.

There’s also the drug issue to consider. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week that Stallworth is in the league’s substance-abuse program, meaning he has violated terms of the agreement at least once and could be one more violation away from a suspension. We have to assume the report is true because it’s been out for a week and no one has made the effort to deny it - not Stallworth, not Rosenhaus, not the NFL. Rather, an investigation has been opened to discover the leak, another sign of the story’s veracity. source

None the less, the Patriots understand that the window of opportunity in the NFL can close at any time. When you have the chance, you have to go for it and because of that the Patriots overpaid for Welker and are taking some considerable risks for Stallworth.

If it all works out well, the Patriots and Stallworth just might be wearing a new ring!

NFL Football Fan Question Are the Patriots making good moves or just acting desperate?

As always, any NFL Football related comments are welcome.

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POSTED IN: Free agency, NFL Football, New England Patriots, Tom Brady