RAY LEWIS’ NEW CONTRACT IS A SEVEN-YEAR DEAL

Baltimore Ravens All-Pro middle linebacker Ray Lewis’ contract, which he officially signed Monday, is a seven-year, incentive-laden pact, according to NFL Players Association records. It’s not a three-year, $22 million contract as originally reported. Per Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports, Lewis received $15.5 million in guaranteed money in an intricate structure that pays the two-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year a total of $10 million during the 2009 season. According to the article, Lewis gets a $6.25 million signing bonus, a $2.75 million roster bonus and a $1 million base salary. The Ravens have option-year decisions to make in 2010 and 2011. A 10-time Pro Bowl selection, Lewis has a $1.25 million option bonus in 2010 with a $4.25 million base salary. His 2011 option bonus goes up to $2 million with a base salary raise of an additional $250,000 from his 2010 compensation level. An NFLPA source told Cole: “The reason for doing it this way is to deal with the salary cap, assuming that there’s a cap again. It’s just a way of handling the proration on the signing bonus and the other money.” Per NFLPA records we’ve seen, Lewis is due the following base salaries: $1 million in 2009, $4.25 million 2010, $4.5 million in 2011, $4.95 million in 2012, $5.4 million in 2013, $5.85 million in 2014 and $6.3 million in 2015. Of course, it’s extremely unlikely that Lewis will be playing middle linebacker when he’s 40 years old. Lewis turns 34 in May.