The Colts yesterday signed QB Andrew Luck "to the richest contract" in NFL history, a six-year, $140M deal that will keep Luck with the team through at least the '21 season, according to a front-page piece by Zak Keefer of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR. In what Colts Owner Jim Irsay "deemed 'a very civil negotiation,' Luck and his agent and uncle, Will Wilson, were able to secure a deal that nets him" an average annual salary of $23.3M with a reported $87M of it guaranteed. Keefer writes Luck "held as much leverage as any player in league history" and could have "asked for any number he wanted." By signing for slightly less than the projected $25M annual salary Luck could have commanded, the deal "offers the Colts some semblance of salary cap flexibility they'll need in the years to come" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 6/30). In Indianapolis, Gregg Doyel writes the Colts "had no choice but to show Luck the money." Other than giving him a record-breaking contract, the Colts' "only other option was to play hardball and risk him holding out" for any of the '16 preseason, possibly into the regular season. Doyel: "That wasn't a gamble the Colts could make" (INDIANAPOLIS STAR, 6/30).
TEST YOUR LUCK: FORBES' Kurt Badenhausen noted the previous richest deal in NFL history was recently retired WR Calvin Johnson's eight-year, $132M pact, signed in '12. Luck's average annual value of $23.3M tops Ravens QB Joe Flacco's $22.1M for the deal he signed this offseason. Luck's $87M guarantee "dramatically ups the previous high" of $65M for the deals signed by Giants QB Eli Manning and Chargers QB Philip Rivers last summer. Luck's contract is the "latest in a string of blockbuster contracts for NFL QBs over the last 12 months," including ones for Flacco, Rivers, Manning, the Patriots' Tom Brady, Seahawks' Russell Wilson and more. Revenue for the NFL is expected to top $13B in '16, "pushing salaries even higher as the cap rises" (FORBES.com, 6/29). ESPN's Adam Schefter said, "The numbers, I think, everybody knew were going to be big, but they turned out to be more gargantuan than I think most people expected all along. You’re talking about $47 million that’s guaranteed at signing, and $60 million that is guaranteed by March of ’17, and $96 million in the first four years. Those are staggering numbers" ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 6/30).
DOMINO EFFECT: SPORTS ON EARTH's Andrew Garda writes Luck's contract "should make things very interesting" league-wide. Between the end of the '16 and '19 seasons, several "big name" QBs will be coming up for new contracts (SPORTSONEARTH.com, 6/30). But ESPN.com's Dan Graziano wrote within the context of the QB market, Luck's new deal "is a pretty big letdown." This is a deal that "has been anticipated for more than a year now." Agents have "been drooling in anticipation of a contract they believed would set new benchmarks and really drive the top of the quarterback market upward" (ESPN.com, 6/29). espnW's Kate Fagan called the deal a "missed opportunity" for Luck, as he "had all the leverage" in the negotiations." Fagan: "He could have been the first guy in the NFL to get a fully guaranteed contract" ("First Take," ESPN2, 6/30).
