In the first week of free agency last March, the Raider and Eli Apple had a reported deal in place that would pay Apple $6 million this season. Two weeks later, that deal fell apart for unknown reasons.
Now about two months later, Apple has signed with the Carolina Panthers. This time, it’s official. And this time the numbers are far more team-friendly than the one he had reportedly agreed to with the Raiders.
The #Panthers signed veteran CB Eli Apple for a 1-year deal worth $3M, source said. That includes a $750K signing bonus. All things considered, a nice payday this late in the game for Apple, who appeared to have a deal with the #Raiders before it fell through during free agency.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) May 29, 2020
It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that $3 million is exactly half the $6 million he was said to have agreed to with the Raiders. And the original reports had the entire $6 million guaranteed with another $500,000 available in incentives.
The thing about the previous deal is it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Perhaps there was a lapse in communication in the original terms? Or perhaps that was the max after incentives? But that’s just spitballing as the deal never happened, so we just don’t know.
What we do know is the Raiders would end up signing established veteran Prince Amukamara to a one-year deal at roughly $1 million. They also signed defensive back Damarious Randall for $2.1 million which means they got two proven starting defensive backs for what the Panthers got Apple, which, again, is half what the Raiders originally were reported to have agreed to give Apple.
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