Donovan McNabb Agrees To Contract Extension With Redskins For Five Years, $78 Million

When Donovan McNabb signed what was reported to be a five-year, $78 million contract extension that includes $40 million guaranteed, many people wanted to know how the contract really breaks down. Often times the first leak of a contract comes from the player’s camp and the numbers are inflated. That’s sort of the situation with McNabb.

He has a legitimate chance to earn that guaranteed money but we won’t really know until after 2010. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports some details of McNabb’s extension.

Washington Redskins general manager Bruce Allen appeared on a team-owned local sports station for an interview regarding the recently signed five-year contract extension offered to quarterback Donovan McNabb.

In the interview, Allen declined to offer specifics on the terms of extension, but revealed some other details about the process. As was previously reported, Allen confirmed that the contract process has been ongoing “for some time.”

It’s unclear exactly when in October the original deal was offered but McNabb’s camp may have realized this was the best deal they would get because his performance in October was hardly inspiring. It was probably best for McNabb to agree to a deal sooner rather than later because any significant injury would have cost him millions at the negotiating table.

It’s also somewhat surprising, as SB Nation DC notes, that a deal had been in the works this long considering many in the DC area didn’t think it was a sure thing McNabb would return in 2011.

ESPN’s Michael Smith reports McNabb and the Redskins agreed on a five-year extension. The total contract is worth $78 million and can reach as high as $88 million with incentives, Smith reports. $40 million of it is guaranteed.

This shows that Mike Shanahan, who benched Donovan McNabb late in the game two weeks ago, is committed to McNabb. One concern that will be highlighted is committing so much to McNabb, who turns 34 later this month. Though others will point out that Shanahan did pretty well with another aging quarterback named John Elway.