Did Jerome Simpson cost himself upwards of $5M a year this offseason?

Jerome Simpson obviously hurt his value as a free agent when he was busted for marijuana being shipped to his house. But how much did it cost him exactly?

By Will Brinson

May 20, 2012 at 3:07 pm ET • 1 min read

Simpson cost himself a pile of money with his off-field issues. (Getty Images)

Considering he had a 2.5-pound package of marijuana shipped to his house, Jerome Simpson got off light in the court of law (and the court of Rog), picking up just 15 days in jail and a three-game suspension, respectively.

But the ramifications for that arrest can't just be felt via punishment: according to Dan Pompei of the National Football Post, one team though Simpson, who signed a one-year, $2 million deal with the Vikings in the offseason, was going to make $5 million a year in free agency this offseason.

"Despite Jerome Simpson’s legal troubles, he is not perceived as a bad kid. Maybe a gullible one, but not a bad one," Pompei writes. "That’s why the Bengals tried to re-sign him, and why one team thought he would have made $5 million a year if he had not been arrested last fall. Many people who know him spoke up on Simpson’s behalf during the free agent process."

Pompei also reports that Simpson's never tested positive for marijuana and isn't in the NFL's substance-abuse program.

There's little question that Simpson cost himself a ton of money with his arrest -- a one-year, $2 million deal is chump change for a guy who showed the breakout promise that Simpson did in 2011, when he caught 50 balls for 725 yards and four touchdowns in just 14 starts.

Five million a pop sounds like a lot, though. On the other hand, Pierre Garcon picked up $8 million a year from the Redskins, and his stats (70 catches, 947 yards, six touchdowns in 16 starts) weren't that much better than Simpson's.

That's not to say that Simpson is worth what Garcon got. But that's mainly because Garcon isn't worth what Garcon got. And it's not like this was an isolated incident either -- it was raining obscene contracts on wideouts this offseason.

Plus, none of the other guys ever did ... this. The lesson as always, kids? Don't have pounds of illegal drugs shipped to your house.

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