Patriots: David Andrews’ contract details are extremely team-friendly

Any Patriots fans who thought the re-signing of Cam Newton was going to be the team’s biggest surprise this offseason were in for a rude awakening once free agency got underway.

Since then, the Patriots revamped their offensive line and subsequently went on the biggest spending spree in franchise history, dishing out significantly north of $200 million within the first week of proceedings with potentially more to come in the near future.

Speaking of the offensive line, perhaps the actual biggest surprise of the offseason came when the Patriots re-signed center David Andrews after it looked as though he was headed elsewhere.

After all, the front office had just brought back Ted Karras from the Dolphins just days earlier. Julian Edelman had already said goodbye to his former teammate! It was simply…odd.

Once the reunion was made official, it was widely surmised that New England had to pay top dollar to convince Andrews to stay. However, the full details of his contract prove that Foxborough was the only place he wanted to be.

According to Spotrac, the former undrafted talent inked a four-year, $19 million deal that includes just $6.5 million in guaranteed money. What’s better than that? Andrews won’t account for a cap hit greater than $5.8 million (!) for the duration of the contract.

David Andrews’ contract details with the Patriots are extremely team-friendly.

Here’s some of the details of Andrews’ deal that weren’t included in the tweet

• Salary: $14 million
• Roster Bonus: $1.5 million
• Signing bonus: $3.37 million

Those figures are more than manageable for the money-flush Patriots and they further confirm that Andrews is the ultimate team guy. We hate to even bring this up, but New England could easily move on from the former Georgia star after the second year of the contract if it wanted.

For starters, Andrews’ already-miniscule signing bonus will be prorated over four years, equating to an average of roughly $375,000 per year. He also has no guaranteed salary after the 2022 season, meaning his dead cap charge will be incredibly small.

At the same time, however, his cap hits of $5.8 million in 2023 and 2024 will look like an even greater steal now that the NFL has finalized its new lucrative broadcasting deal, which is projected to explode the salary cap in two years. This means a divorce after Year 2 of the deal is highly unlikely.

Not that Patriots fans would’ve had any qualms with Andrews returning as one of the wealthiest centers in the league, but the fact that he’s coming back to New England at one of the greatest bargain deals of free agency thus far makes it all the more worthwhile.

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