Fooch's Update: We've got some cap numbers
Richard Sherman's '14 cap number is $3.631M. It's $12.2M in 15. His '16, '17 & '18 cap numbers are $14.769M, $13.631M & $13.2M.
— Joel Corry (@corryjoel) May 7, 2014
Welp, the San Francisco 49ers will get a few more years of Richard Sherman at least twice a year. The Seattle Seahawks and their star cornerback have come to terms on what Jay Glazer is reporting as a 4-year contract extension.
The deal will reportedly make Sherman the highest paid cornerback in the league, with Sherman posting that it's for $57.4 million. Darrelle Revis is currently the highest paid at "$16 million per year", but I suspect Sherman's deal will be "highest paid" based on some other metric. Telling us a player is the highest paid at a given position is like how TV networks say they are the highest rated network. They can pick and choose what their metric is, and we know agents do the same thing.
This signing comes on the heels of Earl Thomas's contract extension. Thomas signed a four-year extension through 2018, and could end up being worth as much as $40 million. His cap numbers are $7,373,212 in 2014 and $7.4 million in 2015, $9.9 million in 2016 and $10.4 million in each of 2017 and 2018. You can read through the full breakdown at Over The Cap.
We've seen the 49ers invest heavily in their linebacker positions, and really develop the front seven. The Seahawks have done good work on their defensive line, but have focused on their secondary. The strategy has paid off, but we'll see how things shake out moving forward with their cap space. They had $12 million and change after the Thomas signing, and I'd imagine this Sherman deal will also be a bit more back-loaded. Thomas's deal involved a signing bonus and then salary boosts starting in 2015. My guess is we see something similar with Sherman.