NFL roundup: Branch agrees to 4-year deal with Raiders
The four-year contract to which Tyvon Branch agreed Saturday with the Oakland Raiders is worth $26.6 million, not counting incentives, and includes $17-$18 million in guaranteed money, team sources and sources close to the four-year veteran safety told The Sports Xchange.
A team source told The Sports Xchange that Branch will sign the contract "sometime before" the Monday deadline for franchise players to reach terms on multi-year agreements. After the 5 p.m. ET deadline, franchise players are restricted to only one-year contracts.
Branch, 25, had previously signed a one-year tender worth $6.2 million. Details of the new, four-year contract were not readily available, but the structure likely will reduce the 2012 salary cap number.
A fourth-round choice in 2008, and the 100th pick overall that year, Branch has been a starter for three years in the Oakland secondary. The former Connecticut standout has complied 347 tackles, six sacks, three interceptions, 16 passes defensed and three forced fumbles in his career.
He has appeared in 54 games with 48 starts, with all of the starts coming in the past three seasons, when he didn't miss a game. Branch has 100-plus tackles in all three seasons as a starter.
--- New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees told WWL radio Friday night that he was not seeking to become the NFL's highest-paid player when he signed a five-year, $100 million contract with $60 million guaranteed.
The contract pays him $40 million in the first year with a signing bonus of $37 million.
"I can tell you from the start of this negotiation, I never thought once, 'Hey, I want to be the highest-paid guy," Brees told the radio station, according to the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "It was more about trying to look purely objectively at numbers over the last decade of top-tier quarterbacks, where it's been and where it's going, and trying to do what's fair and justified."
Brees' contract tops the $96 million deal Peyton Manning signed with the Denver Broncos in March.
--The Chicago Bears are closing in on a new deal for star running back Matt Forte.
A source told NFL.com Saturday that the two sides are "extremely close."
Forte has not signed his one-year, $7.749 million franchise tender. He has expressed his unhappiness with the team's front office but has said he will play for the Bears this season.
