Vikings give Jerome Simpson a raise, including $500K signing bonus
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Jerome Simpson endured a rough first season with the Minnesota Vikings. They gave him a raise anyway.
The one-year contract Simpson signed on Tuesday is worth $2.1 million, an NFL source said.
That's up from a maximum value of $2 million on his one-year deal last season, of which he collected a little more than $1.6 million.
The new deal includes a $500,000 signing bonus and $250,000 workout bonus, with the rest tied up in a $1.35 million base salary. Unlike last season, there are no per-game roster bonuses, despite the fact Simpson, 27, had trouble staying healthy in 2012.
The Vikings thought they had a short-term answer at split end when they signed Simpson last April. But he served a three-game drug suspension, suffered a back injury the week after he returned and finished with only 26 catches for 274 yards and no touchdowns.
Simpson passed a physical before signing his new deal, as all players must do, so the Vikings' medical staff apparently was comfortable the back won't be an issue going forward.
A second-round draft pick (46th overall) out of Coastal Carolina in 2008, Simpson appeared in only 13 games over his first three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals before breaking through with 50 receptions for 725 yards and four touchdowns in 2011.
They let him walk after the season after his guilty plea to a felony drug charge, and Simpson was on the market until April 26, when the Vikings gave him the one-year deal after a visit to Winter Park.
