A closer look at cornerback Leigh Bodden's four-year, $22 million contract reveals it is a straight-forward pact.
Bodden receives a $6 million signing bonus. His base salary is $3.9 million in each year of the deal, and the 2010 base salary is guaranteed for skill and injury. He also has $100,000 workout bonuses in each year of the deal.
The upside for Bodden is that he pockets $10 million this year between the signing bonus, base salary and workout bonus. That's a nice payday for a player who entered the league as a rookie free agent out of Duquesne and had not been in the position to strike on the open market.
In paying Bodden an average of $5.5 million per season, the Patriots are clearly showing their confidence in him. At the same time, the structure of the deal is such that Bodden will have a yearly motivation to continue playing at a high level.
Overall, this is the type of contract that a player has a good chance of finishing. It isn't backloaded, which sometimes leads a team to cut a player before the player reaches the end of the pact.