50 NFL players who could get contract extensions before training camp
Added: (Sat Jun 22 2019)
Pressbox (Press Release) -
I don't know what the weather is like where you're reading this today, but if you live anywhere close to where I do in Connecticut, it's almost certainly raining, as it does every day now.
There are positives and negatives to suddenly living in higher-tax Seattle. On the down side, I'm not sure I know where my golf clubs are anymore. On the plus side, I've run the sprinkler only one time so far this calendar year and the lawn still looks fantastic.
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When every day feels the same, it can feel as if time isn't moving. In reality it is, and we're about five weeks until the start of NFL training camps. This is a slow period for much of the league but a busy one for accountants and salary-cap managers whose teams want to get players signed to contract extensions before camp starts.
With that in mind, I thought we'd take a look at a few of the players who are in line to get big contract extensions before camp -- or at least before the regular season.
JUMP TO A POSITION:
WR | QB | RB | OL
EDGE | DL | LB | DB
Wide receivers
Julio Jones, Atlanta Falcons
Michael Thomas, New Orleans Saints
A.J. Green, Cincinnati Bengals
Amari Cooper, Dallas Cowboys
We're going to do these four as a group, because one of them will come out of this as the highest-paid wide receiver in the league and it's possible they'll end up as the top four. Jones has two years and about $21 million left on his current deal, but the Falcons got him to camp last year by promising they'd extend him this year. Thomas, who has caught more passes in his first three NFL seasons than anyone ever has, is slated to earn just $1.148 million in this, the final year of his rookie contract. Green has one year left at about $12.2 million, and Cooper is scheduled to earn $13.924 million on his fifth-year rookie contract option.
Green is the oldest of the group (he turns 31 on July 31) and has missed 13 games due to injury over the past three seasons. This, plus his team's well-known frugality, probably lands him at the back end of this group, though if the rest of them push $20 million a year there's no reason he shouldn't be able to surpass Odell Beckham Jr.'s $18 million average on a shorter-term deal.
Jones is the most accomplished of the group. With two years left on his deal, the Falcons could conceivably give him $20 million a year in new money and still save some face with other teams. Let's say Jones gets a four-year, $80 million extension. He and agent Jimmy Sexton will have set a record, but the team can lump the new deal in with the current deal and say Jones is making only $16.83 million a year over the next six. Win-win.