Packers Reportedly Sign CB Sam Shields to Four-Year, $39 M Contract

Shields never did reach free agency, agreeing to a deal with the Packers just days before the new league year was set to begin.

Readers, please bear with us as we roll out Cheesehead TV 3.0 and get used to a new publishing platform.

On Saturday evening news broke that the Green Bay Packers and cornerback Sam Shields have agreed to a four-year deal worth $39 million, first reported by ProFootballTalk.com.

According to Mike Florio:

Shields will receive a $12.5 million signing bonus, and his 2014 compensation is $15 million. By the second season, Shields is slated to have made $21 million, and the deal is worth $30 million through 2016.

Much of the focus on this deal is whether or not the Packers over-paid on a deal that is predicted to make Shields tied for the third-highest paid cornerback in the NFL based on his average salary per season ($9.75 million).

Since the NFL's new salary cap increased 7.5 percent over last season, it would be naive to think Shieds would make a salary on par with what cornerbacks made on the free agent market last offseason.

However, after seeing Miami Dolphins cornerback Brent Grimes agree to a four-year deal worth $32.025 million earlier in the week, fans may have been hoping for a more team-friendly deal that leaves the team more salary-cap space over the length of the contract.

On the positive side of the ledger, Shields' cap number reportedly only counts $5.625 million in the first season, per OverTheCap.com, thereby leaving the Packers with over $29 million in salary-cap space in 2014.

There's still plenty of room for the Packers to sign several of their own free agents like B.J. Raji, Evan Dietrich-Smith, extend the contracts of Jordy Nelson and Randall Cobb and perhaps even go outside the organization and sign a few free agents.

So in an attempt to get readers registered, encourage interactivity and get used to the new comment system here at Cheesehead TV, what do you think: Did the Packers overpay for Shields? Underpay? Pay fair market value?

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Comments (20)

Fan-Friendly This filter will hide comments which have ratio of 5 to 1 down-vote to up-vote.
HankScorpio's picture

March 09, 2014 at 05:21 pm

There is no more misleading piece of information than ranking players on the basis of their average salary. Most of that is dependent on when they last signed. With the cap skyrocketing this year, and projections for big increases looming, Shields will quickly be dropping down the rankings perhaps even later this week as other CBs sign.

Getting Shields back for 4 yrs at under $10 per is a win for the Packers, in my book. The Packers have locked up a young and ascending player at a key position for 4 years.

The really interesting part of it to me is the somewhat out of character move to not mix roster bonus with signing bonus in the $12.5 mil up front. That suggests they are saving cap room for 2014 needs. After this deal, they will have around $29 mil in space, if the reports are accurate. They cannot possibly spend $29 mil on re-signing and/or extending their own in 2014.

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Evan's picture

March 09, 2014 at 06:20 pm

"Reports" have Packers interested in Arthur Jones and Lemarr Houston. Houston is going to break the bank but Jones would be great pick up.

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coreyb's picture

March 09, 2014 at 07:28 pm

I'm thinking about adding it in. Maybe we can make the feature time based.

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Evan's picture

March 09, 2014 at 07:57 pm

That'd be awesome. You don't want people editing comments all the time. But a lot of sites give you a 60-90 second window. The old site disabled the function after someone else posted, which makes sense too.

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RCPackerFan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 06:57 am

I would be happy with Houston or Jones. Either way I don't think they can go wrong.
Jones might be cheaper, but I don't think he will be a lot cheaper. From what I have been hearing 7 teams or so have been interested in both players. I would think its going to take a good amount to sign either.

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cpheph1's picture

March 09, 2014 at 10:24 pm

If they extend both Jordy & Cobb and resign many of their FA, it's possible they could spend the $29m. Other than that I agree with you. Cobb's deal could be similar or more than Shield's. Jordy too.

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HankScorpio's picture

March 10, 2014 at 08:23 am

I don't see much point in extending Nelson and Cobb early unless they are taking a team-friendly contract. I don't think a team-friendly team would chew up that much cap space. Maybe if you add in Bulaga. But why extend him coming off an injury?

If the Packers overpay, they can definitely chew up $29 mil in space on their own guys. And they have overpaid for some guys. But something about playing the trick to get Shields an artificially low cap number for 2014 like they did suggests they are thinking differently then they have in the past as the league year begins.

Look at it this way: They used up about 1/7th of their available space for the biggest FA fish of their own. They really don't have another truly big FA fish for 2014. They have 2, maybe 3, big fish for 2015.

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Evan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 08:30 am

I think they need to extend Cobb earlier than later. His price is only going to go up.

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HankScorpio's picture

March 10, 2014 at 08:47 am

I agree that Cobb's price will only go up. But he's a very tough case. He's a talented young WR that have never put up 1000 yards in a season. His production-based price and his talent-based price are two very different numbers.

Which is why I'd wait for his production to catch up to his talent. What if, for some reason or another, he never puts up 1000 yards after he is signed for $8-$10 mil? That's a pretty hefty bite in the shorts, should that happen.

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Evan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 08:54 am

That's exactly my point.

You think a receiver who has never put up 1000 yards and is coming off an injury lost season will get $8-10 million? I don't know.

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HankScorpio's picture

March 10, 2014 at 02:04 pm

I don't think Cobb will get $8-$10 mil per year. But I wouldn't be surprised if that's what it takes to buy him out of FA next season. A young talented playmaker being a FA in the midst of an exploding cap is a player-friendly place to be. That is the number some on this site have thrown around for him.

I would definitely extend him now at up to half that price, if he's willing.

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PackerBacker's picture

March 10, 2014 at 02:13 pm

Wouldn't you want to extend his contract BEFORE his production matches his talent? I'd prefer he peak after, not before we sign him to another contract. The price for an elite WR is much higher than for a WR who may be elite, soon.

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HankScorpio's picture

March 10, 2014 at 03:27 pm

Sure, I'd love for the Packers to get Cobb extended for a price that takes into account his actual production as well as his talent.

Would he love to be extended for that price or would he bet on himself having a big year so he can really cash in? That's a much different question. With WRs, bigger guys are the ones that seem to have better longevity. So Cobb may not get another bite at the apple.

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Evan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 03:05 pm

Red Bryant was set to visit the Packers before he signed with Jacksonville. That sucks - I liked him a lot.

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RCPackerFan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 03:49 pm

Really? Where did you see that?

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Evan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 03:53 pm

@BobMcGinn
Massive DE Red Bryant said today that he was to visit #Packers (Sun) & KC (Mon) before he decided Fri to go with Jax (4 yrs, $17M), .

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RCPackerFan's picture

March 10, 2014 at 04:39 pm

So he chose the Jaguars over even visiting the Packers and Chiefs? That sounds like a brilliant move.

Thanks for providing that.

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Jordan's picture

March 11, 2014 at 02:01 pm

Nobody can compete with Jaguars since they have a lot of cap space that they must eventually get to 89% mark.

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Jordan's picture

March 11, 2014 at 01:56 pm

According journal-sentinel, the 12.5 million is the only guaranteed part of shields contract.

So I'm looking at it as a 2 year deal @8.25/year after you factor everything in. And the Packers will be off the hook (more or less) after 2 years if things don't go as planned. Sounds reasonable.

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