How's $30 Million Sound?
June 20, 2006 — -- When he signed his NFL rookie contract in 2003, a three-year deal with the Indianapolis Colts that included a modest signing bonus of $126,750, defensive end Robert Mathis moved his hard-working mother into a brand-new house in Austell, Ga.
On Monday afternoon, when Mathis officially signed the long-term contract extension first reported last Thursday by ESPN.com, he moved her into retirement.
"That's it, she is done working, and I told her that," said Mathis of his mother, Emma Mathis, who can quit cleaning other people's homes now, and just concentrate on keeping her own house spotless. "As soon as I agreed to the contract last week, I called her and told her, 'Well there is one bit of bad news: You are now unemployed.' Now that everything is signed, I'm definitely making her quit. She's worked long enough in everyone else's houses. [It's] time for her to kick back and enjoy herself a little."
The five-year extension that Mathis signed on Monday carries through the 2011 season and is worth $30 million. The deal includes an initial signing bonus of $8.1 million and a roster bonus of $3.9 million due next March. There are subsequent roster bonuses of $2 million each in 2008 and 2009 and of $1 million apiece in 2010 and 2011.
Mathis, who earlier this spring signed a one-year restricted free agent qualifying offer of $2.093 million, will earn $18.5 million in the first three years of his contract. The contract is the richest ever signed by a three-year restricted free agent and makes him one of the 10 highest-paid defensive ends in the league.
"It's more money than I could ever [fathom]," said Mathis, a fifth-round pick from tiny Alabama A&M in the 2003 draft. "It's a blessing, really, that's all I can say. I'm so grateful to the Colts, I can't even begin to put it into words. I promised them when I came here I would work hard. And they promised me the chance to be a player and that, if I played hard, they would take care of me. I think we both kept up our ends of the bargain. Trust me, I won't spend this all in one place."
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