As Geoff Hobson reported on Bengals.com
Stacey Andrews signed his $7.5 million one-year contract tender as Cincinnati’s Franchise Player. This makes Stacey Andrews the highest paid backup in the history of the NFL. In all of pro sports, actually.
Bengals owner and General Manager, Mike Brown, justified the Andrews signing by saying, “Our longheld policy of investing the bulk of our cap money into starters hasn’t won us a Super Bowl, so we’re adopting a different approach. Starters will get paid the league minimum, while benchwarming backups will get 8-figure deals.”
Such a strategy may sound a little kooky on the surface, but it’s hard to argue with the man who is too intelligent to run his air conditioner when it’s 100 degrees out.
If the Bengals hadn’t shown him the money, some other would have gladly done so. Stacey is still very young, and more than held up his own last season in big Willie’s place. He’s definitely got a Pro Bowl in his future.