What Denver Broncos OLB Elvis Dumervil Will Actually Get Paid

The reports have come in and Elvis Dumervil will be a Bronco for the next six years, making a whopping $61.5 million in the process. CBSSports.com stated that $43.168 million was guaranteed through injury, although if you want the best overview here are the actual figures .

Sports fans hear these numbers then complain about how overpaid athletes are, and how real workers like themselves should be getting the money instead. Yet Dumervil will not see every penny of this contract, not even the "guaranteed" portion. In fact, he won't ever see the majority of all of it.

The contract is made up of rolling guarantees from year to year, meaning if Dumervil is still on the roster each year, he receives a guaranteed bonus. However, if he is released by the team before these points in time, he does not receive any of it. This year Dumervil received a $2.5 million signing bonus and a minimum base salary. His signing bonus is the only actually guaranteed portion of his contract at this point.

The contract then stipulates the first day of the next league year, Dumervil will get a $6 million bonus and an $8 million salary that's "guaranteed for skill." So if a lockout happens Dumervil's salary for 2012 (2013+ depending on the length of the lockout, but this is unlikely) is voided. 2012 also happens to be the year in which Dumervil is paid the most in terms of bonuses.

Guaranteed for skill means that the Broncos still have to pay him his annual salary (once it's been awarded as a guarantee through incentives) even if they cut him as long as he was released because he wasn't considered good enough. In terms of injury insurance, CBSSports reports that $43.168 million of the contract is guaranteed against injury. This means the Broncos still have to pay him even if he's hurt, but this is only insured when he has reached these certain points in the contract. So again, if Dumervil under-performs or gets injured, all the Broncos have to do is release him before the annual bonuses are given out.

Also, if Dumervil gets suspended, arrested, retires, gets hurt off the field, or any other non-injury or playing ability related incident occurs, the Broncos don't have to pay him the remainder of his contract. Thus in actuality, Dumervil is pretty much playing on a one-year $3 million or 2-year $17 million contract.

So why does the media report these "guaranteed" NFL contract numbers and treat them as the player is actually getting all this money? Players and agents use them as leverage for future contract relations, owners use them to complain about how high players salaries are, while the sports media uses them to boost ratings, website hits, and newsstand sales.

(What gets your attention better, a one-year, $3 million contract or a SIX-YEAR, $61.5 MILLION CONTRACT THAT HAS $43.168 million GUARANTEED AGAINST INJURY?).

This leaves us loyal fans to argue and complain about these astronomical annual salaries, which the majority of us will never touch even if we combined our lifetime income. The fact is NFL contracts are not as cut and dry as everyone thinks and they do not have the luxury of signing long-term contracts and sitting back like NBA/MLB players knowing they have nothing to lose. It's just aeasier to think that they are.