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The Jacksonville Jaguars re-signed veteran quarterback Chad Henne to a two-year contract on Friday, prior to the start of NFL free agency. While the contract numbers were not initially reported, details have started to come out and as expected it's a very friendly deal.
Alex Marvez of FOX Sports is reporting the deal is for two-years, worth a total of $8 million and potentially more with certain incentives being met. Ryan O'Halloran noted that Henne's deal will have games started incentives, which could lead to the total being over $8 million, though very unlikely. Marvez also reports the deal includes $4.5 million in guaranteed money, $1.5 of which is in the form of a signing bonus and $3 million in the form of a roster bonus due in 2014.
The base salary portion of Henne's deal hasn't been released yet, but knowing just the signing bonus and roster bonus it appears the deal is essentially a one-year, $4.5 million deal. His deal will likely be structured in a way where all of the guaranteed money will be paid in the first season, so look for his cap hit to be right at or above $4.5 million which gives the Jaguars the option releasing him and saving money on the cap in 2015.
It's a deal that makes perfect sense for a bridge/backup quarterback, which is exactly what Chad Henne is. If the Jaguars do decide to draft a quarterback at No. 3, No. 39 overall or whatever, they can sit him if they desire and then release Henne or keep him on as a backup.
By comparison, Henne's deal in 2012 was for two-years, $6.75 million and $3 million guaranteed with the full thought he'd only be a backup.
Update: More details of Henne's deal have come out
Per Marvez, Henne's deal can max out at $15 million if he takes 75 percent of the Jaguars offensive snaps and the team makes the playoffs in 2014 and 2015.
It breaks down like this:
2014 base salary $1.5 million, $3 million roster bonus:
25 percent of snaps: +$250,000
45 percent of snaps: +$500,000
65 percent of snaps: +$1 million
75 percent of snaps and 8 wins: +$1.25 million
75 percent of snaps and 10 wins: +$2 million
75 percent of snaps and playoffs: $2.5 million
2015 base salary of $3.5 million:
65 percent of snaps and 8 wins: +$500,000
65 percent of snaps and 10 wins: +$1 million
65 percent of snaps and playoffs: +$2 million
So, if Chad Henne starts 75 percent of the games in 2014 and 65 percent of the games in 2015 and the Jaguars make the playoffs each season, his deal will increase to $13.5 million, plus the $1.5 million signing bonus for a total of $15 million, roughly, if my math is correct.
Note: This is probably wrong because maths.