There are a lot of ugly things in sports — ugly stat lines, ugly performances, ugly injuries — but there may not be anything that's worse to look at, or discuss, or even think about than a really, really ugly contract.
A bad one can weigh heavily on a team for years and years. It can keep a team from success. It can cause rifts between players and their teammates, or their coaches, or their fans. It's a situation that everyone just wants to avoid — that is, everyone except for the player who's on the receiving end of said albatross.
Fortunately, we're not going to be looking at those disgusting deals this time around, though there are more than enough examples that have been discussed in previous stories.
Instead, we're going to be looking at the best of the best — at least from the team's perspective. We're going to touch on those contracts — non-rookie contracts, more specifically — that make you shake your head and wish your favorite team had struck such a golden deal with a valuable commodity at a relatively inexpensive price. And if it ain't cheap, then it sure as heck keeps them locked up for a long time. You'll see what we mean from our first position: the quarterback.
Oh, and we're not looking at rookie deals, as just mentioned. Obviously, those can be massive bargains when the player develops quicker than expected — take Justin Herbert and his four-year, $26.6 million rookie contract — but we're only going to look at those signed after the rookie contract had expired.
All contract information retrieved from Spotrac.
Quarterback: Patrick Mahomes - Kansas City Chiefs
Patrick MahomesPeter Aiken - Getty ImagesContract: 10 years, $450 million (up to $503 million)
Up to half a billion dollars... and it's a great value?! That's what you get when you're the potential eventual — that has a nice ring to it — greatest quarterback of all-time, a bold title for a player who is only 25-years-old and only has three years of full-time experience under his belt. But it's no secret that very few have done what Mahomes has been able to accomplish already, and the Chiefs are betting that there's a whole lot more to come. What's more is that the league's cap will continue to grow, meaning big-time contracts will continue to grow... all while Mahomes stays the same as it was when it was first signed.
We could be in the eighth year of Mahomes' massive contract and he very well could have amassed 300-plus more passing touchdowns and earned three additional Super Bowl rings, and this ranking will make a lot of sense if/when that's the case. Kansas City is happy to have him on board for a decade, no matter the price.
Running back: Leonard Fournette - Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Leonard FournetteJulio Aguilar - Getty ImagesContract: One year, $3.25 million
It's not easy to go from consensus draft bust to bargain deal, but that's what Fournette was able to accomplish in his lone season with the Buccaneers. After apparently coming up short in a Jaguars uniform, the 2017 No. 4 overall pick was cut by Jacksonville prior to the 2020 season. Days later, he had signed on with Tom Brady and company, and it's a decision that paid big dividends. Though it took him a little while to get going, "Playoff Lenny" was a massive part of the Bucaneers' Super Bowl run, making history in the process.
He signed back on for more after the memorable campaign, and considering he recorded 448 yards and four touchdowns throughout the postseason, the asking price wasn't all that much.
It's hard not to give this honor to Derrick Henry, who continues to build upon his success year after year, but Fournette is younger, and the running back position is one that seems to reward teams who look shorter bursts of success in today's NFL as opposed to those who rely on one bell-cow for a longer span.
Wide receiver: Stefon Diggs - Buffalo Bills
Stefon Diggs and Josh AllenTimothy T. Ludwig - Getty ImagesContract: Five years, $72 million (Three years remaining)
Diggs is making less annually than Amari Cooper, Odell Beckham Jr., Brandin Cooks, Keenan Allen, Jarvis Landry, Kenny Golladay, Robert Woods, Cooper Kupp and Adam Thielen. He's better than all of them.
"Better" is a tough term to use, but it seems that his fit with Josh Allen is better than any of the above wide receivers and their current quarterback/team fits. Why does it seem that way? How about a league-high 127 receptions and 1,535 yards in his first season in Buffalo? That should probably do it for you. Expect to see a lot more where that came from in 2021 and beyond, especially now that Allen's extension is locked in as well.
Tight end: Darren Waller - Las Vegas Raiders
Darren WallerSteve Marcus - Getty ImagesContract: Four years, $29.8 million (Three years remaining)
This is the contract that brought this whole article into being, especially after seeing this post from our friends across the pond in reaction to the news of Jonnu Smith's new deal with the New England Patriots.
Seriously, how the heck did the Raiders get this guy for the price at which they signed him? Not many tight ends post 90-catch, 1,000-yard seasons, let alone two in a row without top-tier quarterback play. There aren't too many players at the position, not to mention the league as a whole, who could do what Waller did over the last five weeks of the 2020 season: 43 catches, 654 yards and four touchdowns. In fact, no tight end was particularly close — Travis Kelce totaled 438 yards in that same span — while the next closest receiver was Stefon Diggs with 590 yards.
That's the sort of domination you should be getting from the top-paid tight end, not a guy who's outside of the top-five at the position.
Offensive line: Tyron Smith - Dallas Cowboys
Tyron SmithHarry How - Getty ImagesContract: Eight years, $97.6 million (Three years remaining)
Sure, he's getting up there in age. Sure, injuries caught up to him in a big way in 2020, forcing him to miss all but two games. Sure, he's still got three years left in which he's got to stay healthy for all this money to be worth it.
But after a year off to fix nagging neck problems, Smith and the Cowboys are looking ahead to a brighter future, a stretch of three seasons in which Smith isn't a top-five, nor a top-10, but the No. 15 highest-paid left tackle in the league. That's not all that much relative money for a guy who racked up seven-straight Pro Bowl nods prior to his surgery in 2020, and we think he can bounce right back to where he was in the past once he gets on track in 2021.
Defensive line: Danielle Hunter - Minnesota Vikings
Danielle HunterHannah Foslien - Getty ImagesContract: Five years, $72 million (Three years remaining)
The Vikings have a chance to be the best defense in the league in the 2021 season, and Hunter's consistent dominance on the line is a big reason why. Like the aforementioned Smith, Hunter missed 2020 to fix neck issues with surgery, but he figures to get back to where he left off in 2019 — recording a top-five sack total (14.5) and a top-10 tackles for loss total (15) en route to another Pro Bowl campaign.
He's, undoubtedly, a top-10 defensive end, with an even higher ceiling, but his average salary ranks outside the top-10. That's a nice deal for Minnesota, who was able to build around Hunter this offseason along with the return of some other key players.
Jadeveon Clowney's $10 million "prove it" deal with the Cleveland Browns also deserves a mention here, as it could pay off in a big way for a team with Super Bowl aspirations.
Linebacker: Demario Davis - New Orleans Saints
Demario DavisChris Graythen - Getty ImagesContract: Three years, $27 million
Over the past two seasons, using Pro Football Reference's catch-all Approximate Value metric to weigh defensive production, Davis is the No. 9 most impactful defensive player in the game. And when you remove the non-linebackers from the list — the Aaron Donalds, Stephon Gilmores, and others — Davis is No. 3, behind just T.J. Watt and Fred Warner. That shows just how instrumental he is to the success of the Saints defense, not to mention intangible qualities like leadership.
Spotrac projected his market value at around $12.5 million per-season prior to his extension, so you can see that his average of $9 million under the eventual deal is relatively low. And seeing as his $9 million AAV is lower than 17 other outside linebackers across the NFL, with lower total money than 33 other linebackers, his contract becomes even more of a bargain.
Defensive back: Anthony Harris - Philadelphia Eagles
Anthony HarrisMitchell Leff - Getty ImagesSpotrac: One year, $4 million
Harris led the league in interceptions (6) in 2019 and helped the Vikings to perform as one of the stingiest defenses in the NFL. The opposite was the case in 2020, with Harris recording a grand total of zero interceptions in a depleted Minnesota defense. He graded as the best safety in football in 2019 on Pro Football Focus, and tumbled down to No. 38 in 2020.
But for just $4 million on a one-year test run, even the No. 38 safety in football wouldn't be a bad thing. The hope, though, is that he can return to form with a stronger supporting cast around him — think Darius Slay and Steven Nelson — and far outplay his contract value. It shouldn't take much to do so, and the Eagles look to have gotten a steal of a deal on their hands.
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