He will still play his final year of football. Gammons mentioned that the deal would be for 500K up front and the rest coming later in the deal and my guess is it would likely be tied to him remaining in the Cubs system (i.e. still playing baseball). Samardzija apparently will sign and report to Boise, then return in August to start practice for his senior year of ND football. The deal gives Samardzija some nice leverage going into the NFL Draft. If he doesn't like which team drafts him or isn't given enough of a signing bonus, he can just ditch football, get the rest of his 7-figure bonus from the Cubs, and focus on pitching.