Arizona Cardinals agree to terms with Oakland Raiders LT Jared Veldheer
Mar 11, 2014, 8:07 PM | Updated: Mar 12, 2014, 3:21 pm
The Arizona Cardinals hope to have finally found their left tackle.
Former Raiders OT Jared Veldheer reached agreement on a 5-yr, $35M deal with Cardinals, per ESPN league sources.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 11, 2014
Aaron Wilson of The Baltimore Sun reported that $17 million of Veldheer’s contract is guaranteed, and that he’ll get a $6.25 million signing bonus.
Our own Doug Franz reported some additional figures on Veldheer’s contract via Twitter Wednesday morning.
official veldheer contract: $6.5 millioin going to $7 mil if he starts 16 games. $8 mil if he goes to the pro-bowl. $17 mil guaranteed. 5 yr
— doug franz (@doug987FM) March 12, 2014
The free agency period officially began at 1:00 p.m. Tuesday. Before 1:30 p.m., Veldheer had already sent out tweets thanking Raiders coaches and fans, and he changed his Twitter avatar to the Cardinals logo.
Thank you #raidernation for 4 great years. You guys are awesome. I was blessed that Mr. Davis brought me into your community.
— Jared Veldheer (@Veldheer68) March 11, 2014
Veldheer, 26, played four seasons with the Raiders, and was a starter for most of them. A third-round pick out of Hillsdale, the 6-foot-8, 321-pound tackle played in five games last season due to a torn triceps tendon suffered in the preseason.
According to ProFootballFocus.com, though, Veldheer was “knocking on the door of the top-tier guys” prior to the injury. He is their fourth-highest rated free agent — third-highest rated free agent tackle, coming in behind Eugene Monroe and Branden Albert.
