Packers Sign Morgan Burnett to 4-year Contract Extension

The wait is over, everyone. Late last week you heard that the Green Bay Packers were working with free safety Morgan Burnett and his agent on a contract extension for the fourth-year safety. Some people were projecting that Burnett would get as much as $8 million per year in new money. However, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com took a break from golfing today to bring us the news that Burnett has signed and to bring us some numbers on the deal:

#Packers S Morgan Burnett signed a 4-year extension worth $24.75M with $8.25M guarantees, I'm told. Back to this golf course in Mississippi.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 15, 2013

I won't mince words: I think this is a terrific deal for the Packers. With his 2013 season on the books for $1.323 million, this brings the total value of the rest of his deal to five years and about $26.1 million, or just over $5.2 million per year. For a player of Burnett's caliber, this is a solid deal in general; if you subscribe to my theory that he's on the verge of a breakout year, you should be ecstatic about this. I think that in a few years, we could definitely be comparing this contract to the contract extension Jordy Nelson signed before the 2011 season.

The other great news in this contract is the guaranteed money Burnett will be getting. That $8.25 million is not a lot in terms of guaranteed money, so if he does fail to step his game up over the next few years, the Packers should be able to get out from under the contract without too much pain.

But let's not worry about that. Let's think about the fact that we have an ascending safety locked up for five more years.

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