Shawn Andrews has until next March to make the team (and make some money)

By the way, here’s the breakdown on the Shawn Andrews contract with the Giants. I know it was reported on Friday in various places, but hey, I live a long way from Albany and it was a rough drive home.

Here’s a sentence that I bet has never been typed in NFL contract history (unless someone else might have already:

It’s a six-year, $32.5 million deal with a quarter of a million guaranteed.

Whaaaa?

It’s really a one-year tryout deal for the 2010 season at $1.5 million (a $250,000 signing bonus, the only guaranteed money in the package, plus a base salary of $1.25 million).

Now, if he’s still on the roster in the spring of 2011, that’s when he starts to cash in. He’ll get a $3.5 million roster bonus in late March and then a base salary of $3 million. He’ll get $1 million roster bonuses for the next four years of the contract and have a base salary of $4.5 million per year for the 2012-15 seasons.

He also gets a $500,000 workout bonus each of the five remaining years after this one.

If he’s the old Shawn Andrews, it’s a good deal for the Giants. If he’s an old Shawn Andrews, it’s a good deal for the Giants. They can pull the plug at any time with very little financial consideration. It’s a kind of pay-as-you-go contract.