Saints' Williams Signs Deal

Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams has either the best contract ever or one of the worst, depending on how his NFL career plays out.

Williams, the New Orleans Saints' only draft pick, Friday signed a seven-year deal with an optional eighth year. The contract includes an $8.84 million signing bonus and will be worth between $11.1 million and $68.4 million, contingent upon performance.

If he performs in the NFL like he performed in college, his contract would be the most lucrative ever given a rookie. If he fails to reach goals set in incentive clauses, he will earn the league minimum for the next seven years: $175,000 in year one, increasing annually to reach $400,000 in year seven.

"I decided to go with the big bonus on the front end and the rest I have to work for," Williams said. "With this contract I'm going to be making great money if I'm playing well enough."

The Saints swapped their six 1999 picks and selections in the first and third rounds next year to move up to No. 5 in the NFL draft last month so they could pick Williams.

Coach Mike Ditka labeled Williams the final piece of the puzzle, saying a first-class ball carrier was all he needed to make the Saints a winner.

New Orleans has not had a winning season in six years, going 6-10 each of Ditka's first two years. The Saints' offense was 28th in the league last season, the running game was last.

It's been a decade since New Orleans has had a 1,000-yard rusher.

"Our plan is to make Ricky an important component of our offense," Ditka said.

Williams finished his career at Texas as the NCAA's career rushing leader with 6,279 yards. He set 20 NCAA rushing records, including most rushing yards, all-purpose yards, highest average per carry, rushing touchdowns, total touchdowns and points scored.

The contract is heavily loaded with incentives.

There are 26 targets that could earn him $50,000 for each one reached, up to a cap of $500,000. Those incentives include rushing for an average of 4.5 yards per carry or better, 12 or more rushing touchdowns, 12 or more receiving touchdowns, scoring 76 points, gaining 1,601 yards in total offense and playing in 35 percent of the offensive plays.

In addition, there are two escalator clauses that could kick in.

The first escalator would boost Williams' salary each year in years 2-4 $1 million if he rushes for 1,600 yards, $1.5 million for 1,800 yards, $2 million for 2,000 yards, $2.1 million for 2,100 yards. If he breaks the league single season rushing record of 2,105 yards by Eric Dickerson, he would get a $3 million bonus.

The second escalator is based on Terrell Davis' contract, the richest in the league.

In his first four years, Davis rushed for 6,413 yards, had 7,594 yards in rushing and receiving, averaged 4.8 yards per carry and scored 61 touchdowns. If Williams hits three of those four marks, his contract will automtically duplicate Davis'.

If that escalator kicks in, Williams' contract would be worth a total of $68.4 million.

Williams also has a $100,000 bonus for taking part in the Saints' offseason program and $100,000 for not weighing over 240 pounds at each of four weigh-ins.

Williams is the second No. 1 pick to sign a contract. Tim Couch signed with Cleveland on draft day.

Although there had been speculation that Williams' agent, Leland Hardy of No Limit Sports, would be hard to deal with or slow to reach an agreement, Saints salary cap consultant Terry O'Neil said negotiations, many of which were done on the golf course, were exceptionally smooth.

"I think there were a lot of misunderstandings about No Limit and what we'd do," Hardy said. "I hope this will quiet that."

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