On Wednesday in California, cornerback Richard Sherman defended his self-negotiated contract with the 49ers.
And in the process, he pointed out that Nigel Bradham's new contract isn't great.
Sherman said it was a misconception that his three-year deal with the Niners is a bad deal (here are all the details of his contract). But Sherman said he was even more frustrated with people who bashed his deal but never do the same for bad deals negotiated by agents. And then he cited one as an example, although he forgot Bradham's name in the process.
"The kid from Philly, Brenem or something, it's a one-year, $6 million deal," Sherman said. "But to everybody else, it's a $40 million deal. There's nobody to bash it because nobody is even paying attention to most of these agents and their deals."
For the record, Sherman's right about Bradham's deal. It's extremely team-friendly (see story). While it was reported as a five-year, $40 million deal, in actuality, it could be as little as a one-year, $6 million deal. There's just $6 million of the contract, negotiated by mega-agent Drew Rosenhaus, that's fully guaranteed.
Of course, Sherman probably doesn't know why Bradham signed the deal. He might not know about Bradham's history with Jim Schwartz or how the Eagles stood by the linebacker during two legal incidents. Just looking at the numbers, they don't look good.
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Listening to Sherman's full comments, it didn't seem like he was trying to bash Bradham. He was basically pointing out the BS in reported numbers for contracts and the hypocrisy of those who criticized him for negotiating his own terms.
"The thing I'm most frustrated about, all the people who were so high on bashing this deal, refused to bash the agents that do awful deals every year," he said. "I mean, there are agents out there that are doing $3 million fully guaranteed deals that look like $50 million deals when the guy gets cut after two weeks or after a year and the guy only makes $5 million of a $50 million contract. Nobody sits there and bashes that agent."
Sherman said the backlash came because he thinks agents are uncomfortable with a player doing his own deal. In his press conference, Sherman intimated that some agents might not be trying to get the most for their clients. He also said he's heard from other players who might try to negotiate on their own behalf in the future.
