Connor Cook Contract Breakdown with Raiders

After an amazing career with Michigan State that will go down as one of the best ever by a Spartans quarterback, Connor Cook now looks to continue his football career with the Oakland Raiders.

The winner of the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award and the Big Ten QB of the year in 2015, Cook left East Lansing as the school’s winningest QB with a 34-5 record in three seasons. He also left as the school's record-holder in passing yards (9,194), touchdown passes (71) and total offense (9,403 yards).

Earlier this month, Cook signed his rookie contract, which is a four-year, $2,959,890 contract with the Raiders, including a $619,890 signing bonus, $619,890 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $739,973.

In 2016, Cook will earn a base salary of $450,000 and a signing bonus of $619,890. He'll have a cap hit of $604,972 while his dead money value is $619,890 if for whatever reason he's cut this year, so even if his NFL career doesn't go as planned, he's still going to make a pretty penny.

Here is what Cook's deal looks like over the entire contract, courtesy of Over The Cap.

Though the Raiders already have a franchise QB in Derek Carr, the backup QB spot is as valuable as it's ever been in the history of pro football. We're routinely seeing teams pay their backups the same amount that starters were getting paid not that long ago, which is good news for Cook and his NFL hopes.

For now, all he needs to do is show he can be a suitable backup as he goes through offseason workouts, training camp and live in-game action during the preseason. If he does well in all of this, it's not unheard of for a team to trade for a guy like Cook in hopes he can become a quality starter for them.

While Cook probably isn't going to be Oakland's starter outside of an injury to Carr, that doesn't mean Cook can't become one with another team sooner rather than later in an NFL that's always in need of starting-caliber QBs throughout the league.

Whatever happens, hopefully Cook finds a way to have a long and productive professional career.