Yesterday, Brandon Carr agreed to a 5 year, $50.1 million contract with the Dallas Cowboys. According to ESPN, the contract details that Carr will receive $26.5 million guaranteed, including a $10 million signing bonus. His base salary will be $1.2 million in 2012, $14.3 million in 2013, $7.5 million in 2014, $8 million in 2015 and $9.1 million in 2016.
For comparisons sake, the Chiefs and Brandon Flowers agreed to a six-year, $49.35 million contract during the 2011 season. The deal contained $22 million guaranteed. So Brandon Carr is now officially making more than this former teammate Flowers without ever having played as a #1 corner in the NFL.
As a Chiefs fan who has had the privilege of watching Carr grow into a high priced corner in front of my eyes, I'm happy for the guy and I wish him nothing but the best (except when the Cowboys play the Chiefs those rare occasions).
While Brandon Carr leaving the Chiefs seemed a certainty ever since Stanford Routt was brought in, the significance of his departure should not go unrecognized. Although one could argue Carr was out the door a month ago, now that he is, it's time to look at why Carr leaving is an important one.
The Chiefs are now in Pioli's fourth free agent period as General Manager. And since Pioli has been in KC, the organization has been about drafting, developing that homegrown talent, and retaining that homegrown talent. Say what you want about Pioli when free agency hits in March every year, but he has done a fantastic job of retaining the team's best players before they hit the market.
Derrick Johnson, Jamaal Charles, Brandon Flowers, Ryan Succop and even Andy Studebaker have all been given extensions during seasons. Both Tamba Hali and Dwayne Bowe received the franchise tag; Hali then signed a multi-year extension and Bowe is presumably in the discussions for one as we speak. Until yesterday, Pioli had not let young homegrown talent escape the confines of Arrowhead via free agency.
This is saying something considering the house cleaning that went on when Pioli and former head coach Todd Haley arrived in KC in 2009. Bernard Pollard was gone, Larry Johnson cut, and players left and right not classified as the 'right 53' were shown the door. The good, young players that had a future in the NFL were kept and continued to be kept.
Brandon Carr was part of that 'right 53,' he just wasn't on the right end of a plausible contract in Kansas City. But I guess this is all just part of the process. Why else would other teams want to pay Chiefs players that kind of money? It's a sign that the Chiefs have crossed that threshold from a developing team to a contending team with solid players. It's not like Carr was a first round pick; he was a DII player taken in the fifth round that the Chiefs felt could be a good corner in the league. And they were right.
Sure, Pioli inherited quite a bit of individual talent when he came to KC, but he also inherited a bad team. By doing things his way, he has managed to keep that individual talent while continuing to build a good team. And while losing Brandon Carr hurts, it happens every year to every other team in the NFL. In the next few years, we might continue to lose a good, young homegrown player here and there.
But not if Pioli has anything to do with it.
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