Having an awful take is the nature of sports commentary. Yet, social media has allowed these opinions and thoughts to be preserved forever so that people can pull them up when you're proven wrong. Richard Sherman is using this to his advantage as he combats every pundit that criticized his contract with the 49ers.
This offseason, Sherman agreed to a three-year deal with the team. Being as he's 31-years-old, people assumed he would surf the market and sign with the team that offers him the most guaranteed money. Instead, Sherman reached an agreement with the 49ers that could value $39 million but only guaranteed $3 million. Adding to his unorthodox approach, was the fact Sherman brokered this deal by himself without the help of an agent. This gave pundits fuel to trash Sherman's negotiation skills.
Yet after finishing the 2019 regular season with 61 tackles, 11 pass deflections, three interceptions, and one defensive touchdown, Sherman was named to the Associated Press' All-Pro second team. This triggered a $2 million incentive for his contract. Also, Sherman was selected for the Pro Bowl which brought in another $1 million. These incentives, other pending bonuses, and pocketing any agent/lawyer fees have made Sherman look like a genius.
After betting on himself and winning, Sherman was happy to take to Twitter to gloat his victory by resurfacing the criticism that surrounded his contract.
He then turned his direction to ProFootballTalk:
Sherman fired back at PFT, claiming he has seen email exchanges in which sports agents urged the outlet to report negatively about athlete-negotiated deals.
