The Raiders and Russell’s agents agreed at midday Tuesday on a six-year, $61 million rookie contract that guarantees him $32 million. Russell’s agents, Ethan Lock and Eric Metz, were still sorting through a 30-page draft Tuesday morning, combing through page after page of a deal that ultimately stands as the richest rookie contract in NFL history. If all goes well, if Russell reaches a number of performance and appearance based incentives, and the Raiders improve as a team and reach certain offensive targets and victory totals, Russell could earn as much as $68 million over the life of the six-year contract. As it’s written, the Raiders are paying Russell $32 million guaranteed, if all his escalators - $3 million of which are backloaded to 2010 - are triggered. Little details, petty squabbles, questions about which Raiders “closer” would be the point man, and which Russell agent would take his turn pitching their numbers, resulted in six months of lost time for a rookie quarterback, the cornerstone of a rebuilding team, who should already be up to speed on the team’s playbook. They got the guarantees they wanted and the Russell contract has an attractive base package because the bulk of the incentives and escalators are backloaded, giving the team three seasons of protection and breathing room. read more

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