Pack Adds To 'Top-Paid' List

For the second time in three days the Green Bay Packers made one of their stars the top-paid player at his position.

All-Pro Darren Sharper signed a six-year, $30 million contract Thursday that made him the highest paid safety in the NFL. On Tuesday, Ryan Longwell became the league's highest-paid kicker with a five-year, $7.5 million deal.

"A lot of people said the salary cap would prevent the Packers from keeping either of us," Sharper said. "But I think Longwell and I knew where our hearts were."

Team negotiator Andrew Brandt said, "The past three days we have set new premiums for two positions in the NFL. But who better to do it with than our own players who have had Pro Bowl years?"

And it won't stop there, either.

The Packers are busy reworking quarterback Brett Favre's contract to make him the highest-paid player in the league and also provide significant cap relief next season.

Both Sharper and Longwell might have made more money had they become free agents March 2, although the Packers were prepared to slap their franchise tag on Sharper, making it harder for him to leave.

Sharper's deal includes a $7 million bonus and culminates a remarkable recovery from a bad 1999 season in which he missed 18 tackles and was a handy scapegoat for the Packers' free fall.

Sharper led the NFL with nine interceptions last season and earned his first start in the Pro Bowl.

Sharper's deal surpasses the five-year, $24 million extension that Tampa Bay Buccaneers safety John Lynch signed last season. And his signing bonus surpassed the $6 million that Lawyer Mallow got last year from New England.

"I don't want to sound boastful, but I feel as though I'm the best safety in the league, so that's why I thought I deserved to be the highest paid one," Sharper said.

Had the sides not agreed to terms, the Packers were ready to designate Sharper their franchise player, buying the sides time to negotiate.

Neither side wanted that.

"I didn't want to go through a really lengthy process and the holdout and then I'm missing minicamps and things of that nature," Sharper said.

Sharper instructed his agent, Joel Segal, to get the deal done because he wanted to stay in Green Bay.

"Of course, I didn't let them know that," Segal said.

"And I didn't let Joel know the tea desperately did not want to have to tag this player," Brandt said.

The fourth-year player, Green Bay's second-round pick in 1997, has started at free safety for three seasons after playing both cornerback and safety early in his career.

The signing "guarantees that we will have Pro Bowl caliber play at this position for years to come," coach and general manager Mike Sherman said. "Darren has worked extremely hard to get himself into this position and I'm anticipating that he will work even harder in the future to maintain his status as one of the best safeties in all of football."

The price Sharper will pay for his record deal is increased scrutiny, and he's not bothered by that.

"Frankly, there are not any pressures," Sharper said. "I can go out there and play with reckless abandon and not worry about anything because I know I'm set financially."

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