Agent: No talks right now on reworking McNair’s contract
Agent Bus Cook told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he’s sure they’ll be talking somewhere down the road and isn’t sure if that will be after the draft April 29-30.
“I’m sure Steve would like to know something, but for right now, he’s under contract to be there this year. Unless something is accomplished, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent next year. But he is carrying an awfully high salary cap number,” Cook said.
That number is $23.46 million. It doesn’t take up as much of the Titans’ cap space as before, now that the NFL extended the labor agreement and pushed up the cap to $102.5 million.
General manager Floyd Reese has said they want to talk and try to rework McNair’s deal to lower that cap figure, freeing up money to sign more players. He was on a plane Tuesday afternoon en route to Texas for Vince Young’s Pro Day in Austin on Wednesday.
Cook said he thinks McNair, an 11-year veteran, has up to four good seasons left in his career. McNair has a Super Bowl appearance, two AFC Championship berths and a share of the MVP award in 2003 on his resume, and he also threw for 3,161 yards last season with 16 touchdowns on an offense that featured three rookie receivers.
“Steve’s still one of the best quarterbacks in football without any question,” Cook said.
Drew Brees, coming off shoulder surgery, signed a six-year contract for $60 million with the Saints that could bring him $25 million in the first two seasons. McNair currently is due $9 million in salary this year with a $1 million non-exercise fee that must be paid by September, and any signing bonus on a new deal likely would need to be around that $10 million.
“I think that would go without saying,” Cook said. “You look at the quarterback market in the league, if Drew Brees is worth what New Orleans paid him, Steve McNair’s worth a lot also. No knock on Drew Brees. He’s a good quarterback. I think Steve McNair is as fine a quarterback as there is in the business.”