Donald Lee Signs Extension

[gbpackfan]

Great move. I didn't think it would happen this quickly. Nice work Lee and TT!

[Kiwon]

Big numbers for a guy that made such a quiet entrance when he came to the team. He's worked hard and earned this contract.

[Rastak]

Great move. I didn't think it would happen this quickly. Nice work Lee and TT!

The deadline is tomorrow I believe.....

[motife]

Donald Lee got the game ball on offense at KC.

Sort of a little known item apparently. Not mentioned in the article.

[HarveyWallbangers]

He's worked hard and earned this contract.

Well said. Good to see guys like this get money to help their families out. Plus, I gotta root for a guy who is trying to get his Mom out of a trailer.

Packers tight end receives extension
By GREG A. BEDARD

Green Bay - In the end, the deal likely would have gotten done.

Not long after Green Bay Packers tight end Donald Lee caught a 48-yard pass from Brett Favre with about 3:30 left in the second quarter Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs, vice president Andrew Brandt saw an e-mail pop into his in-box.

"Are you sure you don't want to get this deal done?" the message read.

It was from Brian Levy, one of Lee's agents, who had been working with Brandt on a contract extension for the pending unrestricted free agent since Thursday evening.

Brandt brushed off the message by replying, "Yes, Donald's playing well."

Both sides made sure Lee will get the chance to continue doing that through 2011 in a Packers uniform as he signed a four-year contract extension worth $11.88 million on Monday.

"I hope I can play for the Packers for the rest of my life," Lee said by telephone later in the afternoon. "I love it here. It's been like home."

Lee's hometown of Pheba, Miss., is exactly where he's going to start spending the $3 million he got up front in the deal.

While at least one youth football team is going to be getting new uniforms courtesy of Lee, his priority is to buy that house he's long promised his mother, Linda Wordlaw.

"She's been living in a trailer and I've been trying to get her out of it," Lee said. "But she always kept telling me that she didn't want anything. She would say that she's just proud that I'm her son and that was good enough for her.

"But if there's anything that this money allows me to do, it's take care of my family. And my mother deserves it."

Seeing his mother work two jobs and how tired she was at the end of the day has constantly been a source of inspiration for Lee. At no time was it needed more than on Sept. 3, 2005, when he was released by the Miami Dolphins, the team that drafted Lee out of Mississippi State in the fifth round of the 2003 draft.

"When you get released from a team, it hurts you and brings up all kinds of questions about yourself," Lee said. "One thing I learned from watching my mom was if she could go through all she did for me, then I could make it through (getting released) no matter what."

After being picked up by the Packers, Lee finished the season with 33 catches for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He had just 10 catches for 150 yards in 2006 with limited playing time behind David Martin and Bubba Franks, and Lee was forced to accept a one-year contract from the Packers.

But given a chance to start this season, Lee has flourished. He is tied with James Jones for second on the team with 29 receptions, and Lee is fourth in yards (382).

"He's been very consistent, even when Bubba (Franks) was in there when we were playing both of those guys," said coach Mike McCarthy, who gave Lee a game ball for his performance against the Chiefs. "I can't say enough about (Lee). I'm very happy with his production."

Lee's performance this season is in stark contrast to that of the tentative player with the Dolphins who seemed to be committing penalties or dropping passes each time he stepped on the field.

"It's been night and day different from here and Miami," said Lee, who credits offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, a former tight ends coach, with helping him get his head on straight. "When I was down there, there were a lot of distractions and different type guys in the locker room. It was a tough environment for a young guy."

Lee got $2 million in base salary this season, which was added to his original base salary of $595,000. That $2 million will count this season against the $7.39 million the team had remaining under the salary cap.

Lee will earn $4.9 million next season in the first year of the deal, which gets more cap-friendly as it goes along.

Levy was quick to praise Brandt for quickly coming to an agreement on the contract. Brandt even bypassed the road trip to Kansas City to work on the deal.

"The real reason this deal got done is because Andrew and the Packers wanted it to get done," Levy said. "I really believe that, had I negotiated with somebody else on another team, I really don't know that we could have gotten it done. There wasn't a lot of dancing around."

With Lee now in the fold for next season and beyond, defensive tackle Corey Williams is the only significant younger player due to become an unrestricted free agent after the season.

For now, that deal can wait. Brandt was more focused on the one he just finished.

"When Donald came in here today, it was just such a nice scene," Brandt said. "He was so effusive with his appreciation for us completing this. It's heartwarming to see a player - and a person like that - get his just reward."

[HarveyWallbangers]

Extension caps Lee's rise to top of depth chart
By Tom Pelissero

Tight end Donald Lee will receive an additional $3 million over the next four months as part of a four-year contract extension finalized with the Green Bay Packers today.

“He’s ecstatic,” said Brian Levy, one of Lee’s agents. “He wanted to stay there.”

The deal, which could keep Lee with the Packers through 2011, was completed hours before a 3 p.m. deadline for his $2 million raise in base salary for this season to be applied in full toward the 2007 salary cap. He also will receive a $1 million roster bonus in March.

The extension is worth a little less than $12 million, most of it to be paid in the first three years.

It’s a drastic upgrade from the $50,000 signing bonus Lee, 27, received as part of the one-year, $701,240 deal he signed in February after a disappointing 2006 season. The fifth-year pro surpassed veteran Bubba Franks as the top tight end during offseason practices and has been one of the surprise stories for the surprising Packers, with 29 receptions for 382 yards and a touchdown in eight games.

“Donald Lee is a young man that’s totally bought into the offseason program,” coach Mike McCarthy said Monday. “He’s taken advantage of every opportunity through the offseason. He’s really stepped up since Bubba has gone down (with a knee injury Oct. 14 against Washington). He’s been very consistent, even when Bubba was in there when we were playing both of those guys. I can’t say enough about him. I’m very happy with his production the first eight games.”

Negotiations between Lee’s agents and Andrew Brandt, the Packers’ vice president of player finance, began Thursday afternoon. The timing was similar to the completion of center Scott Wells’ five-year extension a year ago Tuesday.

“Andrew Brandt’s been great, and at least they’re taking pre-emptive strikes at keeping their younger players there for a long period of time,” said Levy, who co-represents Lee and teammate Cullen Jenkins along with partner Cary Fabrikant. “We were happy to have Donald remain.”

Lee’s deal could mean Franks’ tenure, which included consecutive Pro Bowls from 2001 to 2003, is coming to a close. Franks will turn 30 in January, and next season is scheduled to receive $3 million in base salary and a $500,000 roster bonus — far more than market value for a No. 2 tight end. He’s missed the Packers’ past two games and is expected to miss at least two more, McCarthy indicated, marking the second time since he signed a seven-year, $28 million deal in August 2005 that Franks has missed substantial time because injuries.

Lee would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency after the season. Instead, he becomes the latest in a line of in-house players — including Franks, Wells, defensive end Aaron Kampman, cornerback Al Harris, Jenkins and middle linebacker Nick Barnett — to receive lucrative, multiyear contracts in Ted Thompson’s three seasons as general manager. Six other Packers can become unrestricted free agents in March, with defensive tackle Corey Williams the most notable.

Lee, 6-foot-4 and 248 pounds, had 33 receptions for 294 yards and two touchdowns in 2005, his first season with the Packers after two with the Miami Dolphins. But he made only two starts last season, played behind Franks and David Martin and finished with 10 catches for 150 yards and no scores. Martin signed with Miami as a free agent in March, clearing the way for Lee to seize the starting job.

In 4½ NFL seasons, Lee has 92 receptions for 1,046 yards and five touchdowns.

[Partial]

Let's get CWill locked up now. He is a great 3rd down interior pass-rusher and is versatile. At this stage, we cannot count on Harrell to become anything and should not let a proven player leave simply because we have a 1st round pick behind him.

I will be very dissapointed if TT does not recognize he is a good player that they can build around. I would think that if they offered him a fair deal to stay with the Packers, he would take it because of how successful he has been so far with them. Time will tell, though.

I will be very upset if a deal doesn't get done. Even if they have to throw more money at him than he deserves, they could safely do it without compromising future cap flexibility by putting 5-6 mil of a bonus into this year.

[Bossman641]

Lee seems like a really humble, down to earth guy. Good for him.