Leinart Triggers Incentive Clause By Showing Up To Practice
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--Matt Leinart signed a 6-year, $51 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals Monday night, officially ending his two-week hold out. On Tuesday, he showed up at practice, triggering an incentive clause that paid him another $3 million. The clause was inserted into the contract at the last minute by agent Tom Condon.
“Bonus incentives are extremely common in NFL contracts,” Condon told reporters on Tuesday. “Every player has cash incentives in their contracts to be awarded when they attain certain milestones. In Matt’s case, that milestone was showing up to practice. After a long, hard road he finally did it. But he’s not going to sit around and rest on his laurels. He’s got other things to accomplish, like staying awake for all the team meetings. That’s another $2 million right there.”
The incentive clause for coming to practice is believed to be the first of its kind in an NFL contract. Most incentive clauses are based on performance, rather than simply showing up, but Condon insists that his client was in a unique situation.
“We were having a hard time working out a fair deal so we had to get a little creative,” he said. “We all know Matt’s not going to be starting this season, so really the only reason he had to show up to camp was…well…there wasn’t one. Now he’s got a reason: 3 million bucks. Does that seem greedy? Our original demand was $5 million, but Denny Green spazzed out on us so we had to lower the price. He’s old school. He doesn’t believe agents should be able to extort money from teams.”
Green, however, insisted that he didn’t “spazz out,” and was merely trying to negotiate a better deal for the team.
“I got a little upset, but I think I had good reason,” said Green. “They’ve been extremely difficult to deal with since day one. I think Matt just needs to get over the fact the he dropped down to number ten. He’s the one that recklessly decided to finish school instead of jumping to the NFL. He just got some bad advice, I guess. A similar thing happened to Maurice Clarett, except at least he wasn’t stupid enough to return to school for one more year just to lose the Rose Bowl.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Leinart finally arrived at camp. His first order of business was to acquaint himself with his teammates and make sure there were no hard feelings about his holding out. He was pleased to see his teammates welcome him with open arms and even congratulate him on his deal.
“Matt’s a good guy, and we all understand the business side of this game,” said quarterback Kurt Warner. “We’re just glad to have him here in camp. What he needs to do now is get to know the offense and start to build a rapport with his teammates. I’m happy to play the role as a mentor, or pretend to anyway, for the TV cameras. And he can act like he’s being mentored. He better be a good actor, though, because I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.”
For his part, Leinart is putting all the contract talk behind him and getting ready to start his NFL career. He will work closely with Kurt Warner to learn the offense and keep himself prepared, mentally and physically, for the day when he becomes the starter.
Leinart is expecting that day to come next season, but he knows things can change in an instant at the quarterback position.
“Right now I am the backup quarterback,” Leinart said. “That’s my role and I’m going to fill it to the best of my ability. I realize I’m very lucky to be learning behind a veteran like Kurt Warner, who has been through so many wars and has accomplished so much in his career. He was the guy who led the Redskins to the Super Bowl in 1987, right? I love that guy. It's just too bad what happened to his leg.”
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--Matt Leinart signed a 6-year, $51 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals Monday night, officially ending his two-week hold out. On Tuesday, he showed up at practice, triggering an incentive clause that paid him another $3 million. The clause was inserted into the contract at the last minute by agent Tom Condon.
“Bonus incentives are extremely common in NFL contracts,” Condon told reporters on Tuesday. “Every player has cash incentives in their contracts to be awarded when they attain certain milestones. In Matt’s case, that milestone was showing up to practice. After a long, hard road he finally did it. But he’s not going to sit around and rest on his laurels. He’s got other things to accomplish, like staying awake for all the team meetings. That’s another $2 million right there.”
The incentive clause for coming to practice is believed to be the first of its kind in an NFL contract. Most incentive clauses are based on performance, rather than simply showing up, but Condon insists that his client was in a unique situation.
“We were having a hard time working out a fair deal so we had to get a little creative,” he said. “We all know Matt’s not going to be starting this season, so really the only reason he had to show up to camp was…well…there wasn’t one. Now he’s got a reason: 3 million bucks. Does that seem greedy? Our original demand was $5 million, but Denny Green spazzed out on us so we had to lower the price. He’s old school. He doesn’t believe agents should be able to extort money from teams.”
Green, however, insisted that he didn’t “spazz out,” and was merely trying to negotiate a better deal for the team.
“I got a little upset, but I think I had good reason,” said Green. “They’ve been extremely difficult to deal with since day one. I think Matt just needs to get over the fact the he dropped down to number ten. He’s the one that recklessly decided to finish school instead of jumping to the NFL. He just got some bad advice, I guess. A similar thing happened to Maurice Clarett, except at least he wasn’t stupid enough to return to school for one more year just to lose the Rose Bowl.”
On Tuesday afternoon, Leinart finally arrived at camp. His first order of business was to acquaint himself with his teammates and make sure there were no hard feelings about his holding out. He was pleased to see his teammates welcome him with open arms and even congratulate him on his deal.
“Matt’s a good guy, and we all understand the business side of this game,” said quarterback Kurt Warner. “We’re just glad to have him here in camp. What he needs to do now is get to know the offense and start to build a rapport with his teammates. I’m happy to play the role as a mentor, or pretend to anyway, for the TV cameras. And he can act like he’s being mentored. He better be a good actor, though, because I don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.”
For his part, Leinart is putting all the contract talk behind him and getting ready to start his NFL career. He will work closely with Kurt Warner to learn the offense and keep himself prepared, mentally and physically, for the day when he becomes the starter.
Leinart is expecting that day to come next season, but he knows things can change in an instant at the quarterback position.
“Right now I am the backup quarterback,” Leinart said. “That’s my role and I’m going to fill it to the best of my ability. I realize I’m very lucky to be learning behind a veteran like Kurt Warner, who has been through so many wars and has accomplished so much in his career. He was the guy who led the Redskins to the Super Bowl in 1987, right? I love that guy. It's just too bad what happened to his leg.”
