Friday, March 21, 2008

A Good Friday for Bigby

Yes, indeed. It's a good -- not great -- Good Friday for Packers' safety, Atari Bigby. He's reportedly signed a one-year contract from the Pack with a base salary this year of $445,000. Like I said, good not great. It's quite possible, given Bigby's performance as last season wore on, that there may be various incentives that come with this new contract as well, making it quite likely he'll earn much more than that. Last year, he earned $360,000 and received an additional $253,177 from the NFL's player performance pool, which rewards players with low base salaries who wind up with a lot of playing time. That would describe Bigby: he started 16 games last season, and finished with 86 tackles, five interceptions and nine passes defended. He had his coverage troubles early in the season but down the stretch became a crushing tackler and defender who made opposing receivers think twice about coming into his territory. Bigby was an exclusive rights free agent, which meant he wasn't eligible to even negotiate with other teams. If he has another year like last year, expect a larger pay day to come.