Fisher Gets Paid, What About Andy Reid?

PHILADELPHIA - The St. Louis Rams will pay Jeff Fisher millions more than the Eagles pay Andy Reid. Should Big Red get a big raise if he stays in Philadelphia in the future?

Fisher and Reid are often compared because of their similar coaching record and history. Both were assistants on Super Bowl winning teams.

On Tuesday, it was reported Fisher will get $35 million over five seasons from the Rams

They were also the two most-tenured coaches in the NFL until Fisher left the Tennessee Titans.

Now, Reid has been with his team, the Philadelphia Eagles, longer than any other current NFL coach. Reid joined the Eagles in 1999, a year before Bill Belichick arrived in New England.

Fisher, 53, has a .542 winning percentage as an NFL head coach and he almost won a Super Bowl with the Titans. He has a 5-6 playoff record.

Reid, 53, has a .609 winning percentage as an NFL head coach and he almost won a Super Bowl with the Eagles. He has a 10-9 playoff record.

According to a report last January in Forbes, Belichick in the highest-paid coach in the NFL, at $7.5 million a year.

Fisher will get an estimated $7 million a year from the Rams, ranking him with Mike Shanahan of the Washington Redskins as the second-highest paid coach in the NFL.

Pete Carroll pulls in $6.7 million from the Seahawks. Mike Tomlin gets $5.75 million from the Pittsburgh Steelers, as does Ken Whisenhunt from the Arizona Cardinals.

By Forbes’ estimate, Reid gets $5.5 million a year from Philadelphia, with two years left on his current contract.

While many Eagles’ fans were yelling for owner Jeff Lurie to fire Reid after an 8-8 season, the veteran coach will be back in 2012, and the subject of a contract extension will come up at some point.

If the Eagles were to let Reid go after next season, Lurie would be on the hook for his salary and Reid could probably command compensation in the neighborhood of what Fisher or Carroll are getting.

But in the past, the Eagles don’t usually let employees get into the final year of a contract, even their head coach, without a plan.

Expect the topic of Reid’s contract to come up after the team decides what to do with the contracts of DeSean Jackson, LeSean McCoy and Jeremy Maclin – and of Michael Vick.

The Eagles can walk away from Vick’s contract after the 2012 season, when he gets $12.5 million, which sets up an interesting scenario if the team doesn’t win next season.

There has been talk in Philadelphia that the Eagles could take a quarterback early in April’s draft, which would position the team for the potential exit of Reid and Vick after 2012, if things don’t go well for the Dream Team.

The Eagles would owe Vick $15.5 million in 2013 and Reid another $5.5 million for that season.