Report: Andre Johnson Took Less Money to Play for the Colts

Earlier this afternoon, the Indianapolis Colts officially announced that they had signed veteran wide receiver Andre Johnson, which was great news for the team.  There were reportedly as many as eight teams pursuing the wideout, but the Colts signed him before he left Indianapolis, his first visit and his first option.

According to NFL Media's Ian Rapoport, the Colts signed Johnson to a 3-year deal worth $21 million - not a bad deal at all for the team, getting the veteran wideout for an average of $7 million per year.  And also according to Rapoport, Johnson was offered more money elsewhere but opted to take less to sign with the Colts.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Chargers?src=hash">#Chargers</a> offered Andre Johnson more money than he got with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Colts?src=hash">#Colts</a>.</p>&mdash; Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) <a href="https://twitter.com/RapSheet/status/575760949010784256">March 11, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

From the moment he was released (and even before it was official), many people pointed out how perfect of a fit Andre Johnson to the Colts was.  Indy has a young quarterback who's pretty good in Andrew Luck, and pairing him with a borderline Hall of Fame receiver in Johnson is a good move for both sides.  The Colts really wanted Johnson and needed him, as they needed a veteran wideout to pair with the young talent that they have in T.Y. Hilton, Donte Moncrief, and Duron Carter.  Johnson can come in and be a veteran leader and play the possession wideout role in the Colts offense, taking some of the pressure off of T.Y. Hilton.  It's a perfect fit.

Such a perfect fit, in fact, that it sounds like Johnson took less money to play in Indianapolis.