Report: Cortland Finnegan and Rams reach five-year, $50M deal

The Rams and Cortland Finnegan struck a five-year deal worth a reported $50 million on Tuesday.

By Will Brinson

Mar 13, 2012 at 9:38 pm ET • 1 min read

Finnegan celebrates stopping a pass intended for Dallas Clark. (Getty Images)

Cortland Finnegan leaving the Titans and joining the Rams in free agency always made sense, once Jeff Fisher landed the gig with the Rams. Finnegan was, after all, drafted by Fisher in the seventh round of the 2006 NFL Draft while Fisher was with the Titans.

And now they're going to meet up, as Alex Marvez of FoxSports.com reports that Finnegan and the Rams reached a deal. But I'm not sure how much sense the specifics of the deal make: according to Adam Schefter of ESPN, Finnegan's going to get $50 million over five years from the Rams.

Per Jason Cole of Yahoo Sports, the deal includes $26.5 million in guaranteed money and $33 million over the first three years. That is a chunk of cheddar, even for the seventh-rated free agent on our full list.

Finnegan was of the two best cornerbacks on the open market, along with Brandon Carr. He's a physical man-coverage corner who also plays well against the run, and he's only 28 years old.

He gives Fisher a nice building block for a defense that needs serious revamping. It's a little surprising, though, to see him getting as much money as he did. Carr has to be thrilled -- he could end up landing $12 million a year from someone like the Cowboys as a result.

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