Kingston, Ontario's Cory Greenwood was recently awarded a four-year, $2.75 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs for his play on special teams and his expending roll on defense. He's set to make approximately $500,000 in 2012, which is a 20 percent raise from his 2011 salary, and his contract includes a $25,000 signing bonus and $20,000 in incentives tied into offseason workouts. By the 2015 season, he could stand to make $750,000 in the season.
That may sound like a small amount of money, especially when you consider how much team's starters get paid, but to Greenwood, it's an unreal amount of money to play his favorite sport. He said, "To think I could possibly make that much money playing football is unbelievable, really."
The 26-year-old linebacker, who played football at Concordia in Montreal and earned the President's trophy as the top defensive player in the CIS, led the Chiefs in special teams tackles in 2011 with 15 and by the end of the season, he started to see playing time on defense as well.
The contract he signed will ease his mind in the offseason because he can attend workouts and the team's offseason program without having to worry about whether or not he'll have a job when the regular season rolls around.
"I now know I'll be coming here next year and I can enjoy the off-season while training. I don't have to worry about anything behind the scenes," Greenwood told the Whig-Standard. "I know what my role is. They expect I'll gradually come into more of a defensive role, but I'm going to continue to try to (excel) at special teams."
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