Tramon Williams signed to four year extension!

[vince]

The numbers have been updated some at JSO. The deal is worth $8.26 mil./yr. avg., which is $33 mil. total, not $41 mil.

The Green Bay Packers have signed cornerback Tramon Williams to a four-year contract extension averaging $8.25 million, the Journal Sentinel has learned.

The deal is worth $33.074 million and extends through 2014. The Packers and agent Rodney Williams completed the deal late last week but the club didn’t announce it.

It's a lot of coin - more than most expected a couple weeks ago - but a good investment for a top tier cover man. Soon we'll be commenting about what a bargain he is when his deal gets leapfrogged by lesser CBs.

[vince]

I know this is not going to be a very popular comment, but does anyone else feel that signing Driver to an extension was wasted money? I do. I was happy at first that we extended Driver, but the way Jones and been playing of late I'm not so sure that money should not have gone to him instead. I don't know how TT is going to resign Jenkins and Jones, but both would be huge losses if they are not resigned. We are handing out serious cash the last couple of years. I hope we still have enough to sign Jenkins, Jones, and Finley in a year from now. I have a feeling Jenkins is not going to be extended.

I have no problem with Driver, but you're right about upcoming deals... Wait until Matthews starts sniffing around the coffers...

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

lol Matthews might wind up making more than Rodgers. We need some superbowl titles to justify all these high paid players!

[Patler]

I know this is not going to be a very popular comment, but does anyone else feel that signing Driver to an extension was wasted money? I do. I was happy at first that we extended Driver, but the way Jones and been playing of late I'm not so sure that money should not have gone to him instead. I don't know how TT is going to resign Jenkins and Jones, but both would be huge losses if they are not resigned. We are handing out serious cash the last couple of years. I hope we still have enough to sign Jenkins, Jones, and Finley in a year from now. I have a feeling Jenkins is not going to be extended.

Driver was signed to a two year extension, 2011 and 2012. I doubt it will have much impact on their ability to re-sign anyone this off-season, or next. After that, it is done.

[Guiness]

$41 million - not bad for a non-drafted free agent, who was cut by his first team (Houston) and sat at home for the first three months of the season before the Packers put him on their practice squad for the last 5 weeks of the 2006 season.

Working on your powers of understatement, are you?

[steve823]

Jenkins should be top priority. After that Bishop. It would also be nice to restructure Hawk's contract and give him an extension ,but who knows.

[PaCkFan_n_MD]

Yep would love to see Haek get an extension, otherwise he probably is cut. He makes 11 mil next year right?

[Guiness]

Yep would love to see Haek get an extension, otherwise he probably is cut. He makes 11 mil next year right?

10 or 11.

His play since Barnett went down is going to make that negotiation a lot more interesting. Until then, it was a given he'd have to renegotiate or be cut. Now...well, I don't think he's worth $10mil, but his value has gone up to the point where it is going to be an interesting discussion.

[gbgary]

wow! great news.

[mission]

Driver's deal was essentially just a "guarantee". Took the money that was owed to him for the duration of his contract and pushed it to the front so he could get it now and not risk an injury leaving him out to dry. Good move by Driver and a nice show by the Packers. It wasn't much more than us doing the guy a favor.

I predicted Tramon's value was right around 8mil a year and would be happy with a contract in that neighborhood. It would have been a travesty if we let him hit the open market. I would have liked to see a 5th year but maybe shorter is better for a guy who never really had a big paycheck before. Hopefully he doesn't turn into a slouch. Ever since I sold a $400k apartment complex roof, I've been sitting around playing online poker, watching office reruns on netflix and changing my kid's shitty diapers.

You want to complain about a contract, let's talk about Brandon Chillar. Forget about him going to IR today -- even last year the guy was a mess. If there was ever a big third down conversion, you could bet Brandon Chillar was oh-so-close in his defense and dragging the guy down for a tackle. Horrible contract IMO. You win some, you lose some.

TT made it happen with Tramon, though!

[Patler]

Driver's deal was essentially just a "guarantee". Took the money that was owed to him for the duration of his contract and pushed it to the front so he could get it now and not risk an injury leaving him out to dry. Good move by Driver and a nice show by the Packers. It wasn't much more than us doing the guy a favor.

Not exactly. Driver was in the last year of his contract, so all he needed to do was make it to the opening day roster and it was all guaranteed anyway. He would have been a free agent at the end of this year. They gave him more as a signing bonus and added two more years, 2011 and 2012. I haven't seen any numbers for his new deal.

[MichiganPackerFan]

I know this is not going to be a very popular comment, but does anyone else feel that signing Driver to an extension was wasted money? I do. I was happy at first that we extended Driver, but the way Jones and been playing of late I'm not so sure that money should not have gone to him instead. I don't know how TT is going to resign Jenkins and Jones, but both would be huge losses if they are not resigned. We are handing out serious cash the last couple of years. I hope we still have enough to sign Jenkins, Jones, and Finley in a year from now. I have a feeling Jenkins is not going to be extended.

Unlike Sherman, TT hasn't given the overpaying-contracts that will come back to bite you in the ass. Driver is younger than his age (despite the damn hammy this year)

[CaptainKickass]

Can I get a "Woot Woot!"

.

Nope - but you can get a Shatner "Woo" remix at 160 miles per hour:

.

[vince]

http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/Opportunity-knocked-Tramon-answered-9736.html

Opportunity Knocked. Tramon Answered
It certainly came as no surprise that the Green Bay Packers came to terms on a four-year extension with cornerback Tramon Williams this week. Williams was five games away from being an unrestricted free agent at a high impact position in a year where -- if there is a new Collective Bargaining Agreement -- many teams may be coming out of their spending hibernation.

This guy can play!

Williams arrived in Green Bay to sign with our practice squad after being released by the Texans almost exactly four years ago today, on November 29, 2006. I remember hearing about him from our scouts soon after his arrival: he was smooth, had good ball skills, great rotation in his hips, and simply “This guy can play!”

When players came in to sign their contracts, even those on the practice squad, I would always notice demeanor. Many players come in with some anger or entitlement, especially after being released by another team. Tramon was grateful to the Texans for the opportunity and humbled to be a part of the Packers, even as a practice squad player.

And Williams developed as a player as well. The more the players and coaches were around him the more they liked him as a player and person. And when preparation met opportunity with the injury to starter Al Harris last year, Williams had a chance to be a full time starter. He has taken full advantage of the opportunity and excelled in that role to the point of being mentioned as a Pro Bowler this year and allowing the Packers to release longtime fixture Harris.

The Packers had to act with Williams before he hit an open market in March -- assuming there is a market in March -- that would have paid Williams far more money than the Packers would pay, and more than he is getting now. Williams' leverage point was about to skyrocket, but he chose the security and comfort of the team that gave him a chance as opposed to seeing what would be behind Door #2 in March.

CBA coming?
Despite all the talk about deals not getting done due to the impending labor uncertainty, this was a deal that was going to get done and was in the works for a while.

And it comes from the only NFL team required to "show its books", as the Packers are public, during a time when the NFLPA has been unsuccessfully requesting/demanding/crying that all NFL teams open their financial statements to them. Also, the message from the Packers financial report, echoed by NFL officials, is that player costs are outpacing team revenues in a way that is not sustainable.

Despite those comments, the Packers have extended Charles Woodson's contract, with $33 million through 2012, and now that of Tramon's. It is interesting to note that despite most teams' talk of labor uncertainty preventing action on the player contract front, Packers CEO Mark Murphy has been sitting in on many negotiation sessions with the union and (presumably) authorized the Packers to spend these tens of millions of dollars despite the labor uncertainty. A sign of progress on the CBA? Perhaps.

Number high, but could have been much higher
His deal is strong but, as noted above, not as strong as it could have been as a free agent. Williams will make an additional $11.1 million this year: $6 million in bonus and $5.1 million in additional salary. He'll make $3.5 in bonuses and salary in 2011 and $5.1 million in bonuses and salary in 2012, giving him approximately $20 million in new money over the next two-plus years. The deal also provides approximately $18 million in 2013 and 2014, although I give little credence to non-guaranteed numbers beyond 2012 at this point.

And as all Packer veteran contracts have been structured for many years, the deal contains (1) very little Cap acceleration should the Packers terminate Williams -- his contract, not him -- after 2011; (2) large per-game roster bonuses each year (up to $300,000) for staying injury-free; and (3) large workout bonuses (averaging $250,000 per year) each year, starting in 2011, for participating in 85% of the team's offseason workout program.

The question for Williams and his agent -- also named Williams (Rodney) -- was whether to turn down over $20 million between now and the end of 2012 for a bigger deal – and it would have been a bigger deal -- in what they hope to be an active market in 2011. Their answer was to take what was in front of them rather than wait for what might have been.

Cinderella lives
Tramon Williams is a shining example of what can happen in the NFL to a player that no one wanted. Signed as an undrafted free agent by Houston and cut at the end of training camp, the Packers gave him a chance three months after that release to show what he could do on the practice squad. While most practice squad players wash out at the bottom of rosters after a year or two, Williams flourished. And he has made the Packers proud.

Congratulations to a true feel-good story named Tramon Williams. We need more like him.

[HarveyWallbangers]

Bargain.

http://www.jsonline.com/sports/packers/114181564.html

"Every good thing that's happened to Tramon on the field, all the plays he's making, he deserves," linebacker A.J. Hawk said. "I've never been around a better teammate than a guy like Tramon. He's awesome. I love how he prepares. He does everything right.

"There's a reason he's making huge plays, because he lives the right way. He prepares right. Has crazy amounts of talent. But he's doing the work to get the best out of it, I think."