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Two Texans players on list of the 50 top-earning American athletes
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Matt Schaub is among the top 50 earning athletes according to SI
Earlier today Jonah Freedman of SI.com published the sixth annual Sports Illustrated list of the 50 top-earning American athletes in salary, winnings, endorsements and appearance fees.
They call it the "Fortunate 50." I would say so.
This is a heavy hitter list including the likes of Tiger Woods, LeBron James, and Alex Rodriguez.
There are only nine NFL players on the list and as I scrolled through the list I found the usual suspects such as Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
But then imagine my surprise when I got to #33.
Matt Schaub? You've got to be kidding me.
But then I read the basis for Schaub's ranking and quickly realized there's an asterisk or two that should be attached to the explanation.
Freedman says "The Texans are on the hook to pay their QB a $10 million option bonus at any time between now and Super Bowl XLIV. That's on top of the $7 million base salary he'll earn in '09."
That's partially correct.
First of all, the Texans aren't on the hook to pay Schaub one penny of that $10 million dollar bonus this year (or next) if they decide he's not worthy.
If (heaven forbid) Matt goes down with a season ending injury early this season, there's no way the Texans will exercise his option for 2010-12.
On the other hand, if Matt is able to exorcise the injury demons and turn in a strong season playing a full slate of games, then yes, there's a very good chance he will see that $10 million.
But it doesn't have to be paid between now and Super Bowl XLIV.
The Texans have until five days after Super Bowl XLIV, which will be played in Miami on February 7, 2010, to notify Schaub and his agent that they intend to exercise his option. The option is payable on March 15, 2010 and would hit the books in the 2010 league year (assuming the Texans haven't been sneaky on us and have already executed the option, paid it this past March but not reported it publicly).
Which brings me to the other point I wanted to make on Freedman's list.
The total salary numbers shown for the NFL players ($17.3 million in Schaub's case) are snapshots of what that athlete could possibly make this season. It doesn't mean that Schaub is the 33rd highest paid athlete in terms of total contract value. His ranking, and presumably other NFL players on the list, are inflated because of their potential windfall from a one time option bonus, signing bonus or other guaranteed salary earned this year and this year only.
In fact, if the Texans exercise Schaub's option this year, his base salary is lowered to $4.5 million in 2010. Adding the $10 million option bonus payable next March, his total earnings of $14.5 million wouldn't be enough to make this year's Fortunate 50.
The next revelation that made me spit beer all over the keyboard (gives sticky keys a new meaning) was when I scrolled down further and saw Antonio Smith at #45. But his case is like Schaub's. Smith got a boatload of cash this season but next year his name will be nowhere to be found on the Fortunate 50, 100, or probably 200 for that matter.
Agents for DeMeco Ryans and Owen Daniels would probably eagerly point out that one Texans player named on this prestigious list has missed 10 starts in the last two seasons and another has yet to play a game for the Texans, while their clients have played in a combined 94 games for the Texans and have a couple of Pro Bowls between them to show for it.
But don't read any absolutes into this. It's just another list - and you know how we like to dissect lists - and call in to radio talk shows after we read things like this and complain about "this economy" and athletes that make too much money.
In Schaub's case, just remember the asterisks.
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