Details on Tyrann Mathieu Contract Extension with the Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals made Tyrann Mathieu the highest paid safety in the NFL on Tuesday and the breakdown of the contract has emerged. 

For the Arizona Cardinals, they have done a great job of protecting themselves in case of injury moving forward, but they also have done a great job of allowing Tyrann Mathieu the ability to earn all of his $40 million in guaranteed money.

Revenge of the Birds resident cap expert Gungus explained it like this:

"A reasonable $15.5M signing bonus. The days of the $30M signing bonus are gone. Only other full guarantees are this years $1M salary, which is actually a reduction from the nearly $1,7M he was set to earn, and his $4.75M salary in '17.

$21.25M in full guarantees in the first 2 years but his cap numbers in '16 is only $4.3M and $8.1M in '17.

Nothing beyond '17 is guaranteed until day 1 of the '18 season, and then money for '18 and '19 become guaranteed. The team can walk away at the end of '17 in HB still has injury issues for just the remainder of the signing bonus proration.

Cap numbers in ‘18, '19 and '20 balloon to $14M if he's still around.

Pretty fair for both sides if you're asking me."

What is unique is that the Arizona Cardinals did in fact give Tyrann Mathieu quite a bit of money up front, but they basically have an out clause if Mathieu is unable to remain healthy.

The out clause is different though because it is not year by year, it instead guarantees two years for Mathieu once he is on the team at the beginning of the 2018 NFL year.

That gives the Arizona Cardinals two full seasons to watch Mathieu to insure that he is healthy, before they then have to make a big financial decision.

Steve Keim continues to do a great job.