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Colts' Harrison signs four-year deal
Posted: Thursday April 06, 2000 07:58 PM
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Wide receiver Marvin Harrison cashed in on his most productive season with the Indianapolis Colts. Harrison, selected to his first Pro Bowl after a franchise-record season, signed a contract extension Wednesday that reportedly is valued at $25.4 million with an $11.5 million signing bonus. Harrison declined to meet with the media after signing the four-year contract and participating in a workout at the team's complex. Club spokesman Craig Kelley said team president Bill Polian would not comment on the signing. Harrison had one year remaining on the five-year contract he signed as the 19th overall pick in the 1996 draft. His signing continues Polian's offseason goal to retain key members of the team that produced the biggest turnaround in league history. Indianapolis finished 13-3 and won the AFC East championship last season after finishing 3-13 each of the previous two years. Harrison would have been paid a base salary of $1.02 million next season. The Indianapolis Star reported that the new agreement will lower his base to about $400,000 for the 2000 season. Among those approving the move was Peyton Manning, who also went to the Pro Bowl last year as the starting quarterback. "It's a wise decision," Manning said. "I'm happy for Marvin. This is the first season he's gotten some real notoriety. He's getting rewarded for the four years he's had here. I think he sees it as more of a goal to go out and achieve.
"You won't see Marvin putting it on cruise control. You'll see him coming in and having a great season." Harrison set franchise records with 115 receptions and 1,663 yards receiving in 1999. His reception total ranked seventh in league history and his yardage total ranked sixth. He'll start next season among the top 10 on the Colts' career list in nearly every receiving category with 311 receptions (sixth), 4,141 yards (seventh), 33 touchdown receptions (sixth) and 13 games with 100 receiving yards (fourth). He's caught a pass in all 60 of his regular season games, the third-longest streak in franchise history. Polian elected to use much of his available salary-cap room to retain members of the team rather than go heavily into the free agent market. Earlier, tight end Ken Dilger and right tackle Adam Meadows were signed to lucrative contracts. Dilger, who would have been an unrestricted free agent, signed a five-year deal valued at $15 million with a $4.5 million signing bonus. Meadows, who would have been a restricted free agent, signed a five-year, $20 million contract with a $5 million signing bonus. "At the end of the season we said that the most important thing we could do this off-season was to keep our own," Polian said Tuesday. "Marvin is obviously part of that to the extent that we made that our No. 1 objective." Manning welcomed the signings of his teammates. "Now with free agency, you see these teams going after all these big players. The important thing now is keeping the players that you have," he said. Polian, the NFL Executive of the Year for the fifth time in his career, said the signings wouldn't have an adverse effect on the salary cap when it comes time to sign the team's draft picks. "The money is budgeted. It's there. We don't have to do anything relative to the draft choices," he said. "They've already been accounted for in the overall larger budget. We budget for Sept. 1. We don't budget for now."
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