I was shocked when Larry Johnson was released by the Kansas City Chiefs. The reason for my emotion was this man, this football player, was at one time the most dominant running back in the NFL. Larry Johnson was the guy taken 1st overall in fantasy leagues everywhere. Until Monday, LJ, like Shaun Alexander at one point, was without a job.

Take a look now at the present situation. LJ was signed by the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday as an insurance policy for the injured starter Cedric Benson. Who wins on this deal you may ask. As the title of this post so figuratively states, LJ does.

Johnson will receive his $4 million still owed to him by the Chiefs. In addition to this, he will receive $255,290 from the Bengals (this total is equal to the minimum veteran contract amount for the remaining time left in the season).

This season with the Chiefs, Johnson had 358 yards on 132 attempts with 0 touchdowns. Why is this relevant? Well LJ will be playing for a team that is 11th in total rushing yards and whose three running backs have a total of 889 yards on 216 attempts with 6 touchdowns.

Tim Hudson and the Atlanta Braves agreed to a 3-year/$28 million contract yesterday. Hudson agreed to take a pay cut in order to stay with the Braves, since he is from Alabama, which I guess it close enough to ATL.

Here is how the contract is laid out:

• 2010 – $9 million
• 2011 – $9 million
• 2012 – $9 million
  • If Hudson pitches 600+ innings over the next 2 seasons, he will take home a $500,000 bonus after the 2012 season.
• 2013 – $9 million club option/$1 million buyout

By signing Hudson, the Braves have shown faith in their pitcher that he will bounce back from his elbow injury which ended up in Tommy John surgery. Among the other active pitchers in Atlanta are Derek Lowe, Kenshin Kawakami, Javier Vazquez, Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson.

Ken Griffey Jr.

Although not finalized yet, sources say that Griffey will be signed to a contract close to the one he signed before this past season – that contract gave Griffey a $2-million base salary and when everything was said and done, he took home $3.15 million after incentives.

I will update you all when the deal is finalized.

Mark Kotsay has inked a new deal with the Chicago White Sox on November 5th (15 days before he is slated to become a free agent and hit the open market).

According to RotoWorld.com (my #1 source for contract info), Kotsay and the Sox agreed to a 1-year, $1.5 million contract. This contract total was for the same amount that Kotsay made this past season. The thirty-three year old first baseman was acquired by the White Sox in a trade during the 2009 season with the Boston Red Sox for outfielder Brian Anderson.

Brian Anderson made near the league minimum in 2009 which is roughly around $400,000.

Rajon Rondo, the six-foot point guard for the Boston Celtics, has captured the worlds attention. The publicity he is getting is both positive and negative. The positive side being his performance with the Celts. In four seasons with Boston, Rondo has played in 239 games and has a .481 FG%, .271 3PT%, and a .635 FT%. However, he has recently been the target of criticism for being late to practice and for his overly physical play.

Whether troubled or not, the Celtics have decided that they want Rondo in their future and have signed him to a 5-year, $55 million extension. Rondo is often compared to San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. Here is how Rondo stacks up to Parker:

Rajon Rondo (2006-Present) – 239 G, .481 FG%, .271 3P%, .635 FT%, 1396 Assists, 416 Steals, 32 Blocks, and 2294 Points

Tony Parker (2006-Present) - 221 Games, .519 FG%, .315  3P%, .795 FT%, 1343 Assists, 206 Steals, 19 Blocks, and 4354 Points

Parker is slated to make $12.6 million this season and $13.5 million next season.

I recently wrote a piece on veteran NFL players who were playing poorly during their contract year. News has broke from the Dallas Cowboys that they have signed DeMarcus Ware to a 6-year/$78,000,001 contract with nearly $40 million guaranteed. I will explain the added $1, shortly.

Before signing this big extension, Ware was boasting a 22-tackle, 2-sack season here in 2009. After shaking on a deal with Jerry Jones, he posted 2 tackles, 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble this past Sunday. In a sport where many players go “soft” after getting paid, the Cowboys did a great job of realizing that maybe DeMarcus Ware wasn’t playing well because he wasn’t getting paid enough.  Interesting theory.

Now, on to the $1. It is being reported that Jerry Jones handed Ware a $1 bill with this message scribbled on it: “This is my last offer. Your great. Jerry Jones.”

When asked by the media what he thought of the deal, DeMarcus Ware had this to say:

“I feel like I work really hard and am really deserving of what they’ve given me. All this is behind me now. It’s time to get to work.”

Now that’s a player I want on my team.

Brady Quinn looked ever-so-promising at Notre Dame. He made many believe that he’d be a solid quarterback in the NFL, but after a rough start to the season, he has been benched for former starter Derek Anderson.

The devastation this causes on Quinn is two-fold. For one, he has to deal with the fact that he was benched and secondly, he stands to lose around $11 million in performance bonuses.

In Quinn’s contract, it states that he would have to play 70 percent of Cleveland’s offensive snaps to be able to scoop up two bonuses which are worth $10.95 million total. Quinn’s future in Cleveland is very uncertain.  There has been speculation that he would depart town after he posted his house up for sale.

One thing is for sure: Of the two quarterbacks drafted in the 1st round of the 2007 NFL Draft (Brady Quinn and JaMarcus Russell), neither have proven their worth.

Jay Cutler has agreed to a 2-year/$30 million contract extension with the Chicago Bears; this contract includes $20 million in guaranteed money. Cutler is scheduled to make about $50 million. The possibility of a lockout in 2011 made Cutler’s agent, Bus Cook, more eager to get his client some guaranteed cash.

Cutler was drafted 11th overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. Here is a list of the quarterbacks drafted in the first round of 2006 and what they are getting paid:

• Vince Young – 3rd overall – 6 years/$58 million
• Matt Leinart – 10th overall – 6 years/$50.8 million

The crazy thing about these quarterbacks is that Young and Leinart are both riding the pine pony.

**Side Note: Kyle Orton (Cutler’s replacement in Denver) is scheduled to make $995,000 in 2009

Michael Crabtree may have shot himself in the foot when he decided to hold out these past four weeks of the season. The reason for this is that Crabtree pretty much lost all leverage when the 49ers started the season hot. After their winning streak, Eugene Parker knew he had to act quickly and get his client signed. His contract is a rather interesting one and is full of quirky clauses.

Here’s the deal:

• Crabtree signed a 6-year/$32 million contrac.
  • The 6th year is optional based on performance.
  • If a certain amount of stats are reached, the contract will turn to a 5 year/$28 million deal.
  • Discretionary Salary Advance – The 49ers pay Crabtree with the ability to get the cash back (minus the bonuses) in the event of a holdout, suspension, etc.
  • Diva Clause – some cash is tied to this clause which says that if Crabtree does not attend all mandatory functions and does not attend about 90 percent of the Niners’ voluntary events, San Fran can void all escalators tied to the clause.

I like to look at this contract as a “You Should Have Signed Earlier” contract. The reason for this is that many news sources say that the deal offered to Crabtree after the draft did not have any of this special language in it. It was a simple contract.

Sometimes when you roll the dice and take a risk such as the one Crabtree took, you lose. While Crabtree will get paid, he is definitely walking on eggshells in the Bay Area.

The end of the 2009 NFL season will allow a number of solid football players to hit the open market. Usually, in the last year of players’ contracts, that player will play hard and put forth a great deal of effort in order to receive a substantial contract the following year. This year, however, some of the big names in the league are not showing teams that they are worth big pay days.

PFTV reported on Braylon Edwards‘ sloppy season and how his year has fallen apart five weeks in. Other players such as Shawne Merriman, Demarcus Ware, and Terrell Owens are having pretty sub-par seasons so far.

After the Brady Quinn failure in Cleveland, Braylon Edwards hoped that Derek Anderson would hit him with some passes……fail. Then, as if his 0 catch game against the Bengals was bad enough, he allegedly punched LeBron James’ friend after the game at around 2:30 AM (this case is still being looked at). Let’s see if he can earn a big pay check using Mark Sanchez’s arm.

Merriman’s troubles started with his injury last year; after returning and looking forward to a promising season, he was arrested on domestic violence charges (this case was tossed). In my eyes, Merriman is still a solid football player – he is only 25 and has a lot of years ahead of him if he can rehab properly. However, his 8 total tackles in 4 weeks has failed to prove me right.

You can blame Terrell Owens’ mediocre season on Trent Edwards (otherwise known as Captain Checkdown), or you can blame it on Buffalo’s solid running game this season, or you can blame it on whatever you’d like. With 8 receptions for 158 yards and 1 touchdown, T.O. has not impressed me this season and to be honest, I have no clue where he could end up next season.

Demarcus Ware has only 16 tackles and 1 forced fumble so far this season. Not horrible, but not good for someone looking to score big in the “cha-ching” department. Manny Lawson of the 49ers has 23 tackles so far and Patrick Willis has 37 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 interceptions (Willis is a MLB, though).

It’s all about performing in the NFL. If these guys don’t clean up their acts and get their heads in the game, they will be left with less cash than guys like Derrick Mason, Ronnie Brown, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sharper, who are all playing exceptionally well.