The Minnesota Vikings took a relatively low risk on oft-troubled wide receiver Jerome Simpson, signing him to a one-year, $1 million contract this offseason.
Simpson was arrested under presumption of a DWI, before eventually agreeing to plead guilty to lesser charges.
As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk notes, "that was his second off-field problem as a Viking; he previously spent 15 days in jail on a drug charge and was suspended for the first three games of the 2012 season. As a result, when he hit free agency this year, Simpson had to settle for less than half of the $2.1 million he made last year."
Simpson was a bit shocked by the pay cut, but gets the gist of why it happened.
“I can’t lie. I was definitely surprised that I get paid less than what I got last year,” Simpson said to the Pioneer Press. “I had my best numbers. But I guess when you got that negative thing on you, they kind of got you behind the 8-ball.”
After catching 48 balls for 726 yards last year, Simpson believes that the Minnesota Vikings will get a lot more than their money's worth with him.
“I know I’m worth more than what [his current contract] was,” Simpson stated. “But I made my bed, so I got to lay in it. I got to just keep improving and move on and make plays. When it’s time to get paid or whatever and get the contract I deserve, then it’s going to happen.”
Providing he stays out of trouble in 2014, he may very well get that pay raise after all.
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