Richard Sherman signed a 4-year contract extension in the offseason. (Getty)
It’s common knowledge Richard Sherman talks a lot on the field. It’s also known that he backs up every bit of chatter with his play.
The 4th-year cornerback garnered All-Pro honors in 2012 and 2013 and the Seahawks rewarded him with a 4-year, $56 million contract extension this past spring which will keep him in Seattle through the 2018 season.
At the time, it was richest multi-year contract for a cornerback. Then the Cardinals locked up CB Patrick Peterson about 2 months later to this monster of a deal.
How did Sherman repay the Seahawks? By earning his 3rd-straight All-Pro selection and anchoring the league’s best defense, which is tasked with stopping Tom Brady and the New England Patriots Sunday in Super Bowl XLIX.
As a 5th round pick (154th overall) in the 2011 NFL Draft out of Stanford, Sherman’s rookie deal was pretty standard – 4 years and roughly $2.2 million. He received an approximate $182,000 signing bonus (his only guaranteed money) and had an average salary of $555,600.
To say he outplayed that contract is an understatement. The Seattle brass thought the same so they approached Sherman and his representatives. The end result was Sherman getting $56 million.
The deal was added on to his rookie contract, which called for him to make $1.431 million in the final year. Then beginning next year, Sherman gets a fat raise. His 2015 base salary is $10 million. That base salary becomes fully guaranteed on February 6.
Sherman was guaranteed $40 million in the deal, which included an $11 million signing bonus.
Below are the details of his annual base salary and salary cap hits:
2015 Base: $10 million … Cap Hit: $12.2 million
2016 Base: $12.569 million … Cap Hit: $14.769 million
2017 Base: $11.431 million … Cap Hit: $13.631 million
2018 Base: $11 million … Cap Hit: $13.2 million
Sherman will turn 31 in March of 2019, which, if he plays out the entire deal, is when he’ll enter free agency.
And with news of Sherman and his girlfriend, Ashley Moss, expecting their first child any day now, that rich contract extension came at a good time.