Which NFL players will reset the market with new d...
Key takeaways
- In the past few weeks, we've seen stars such as Drake London and Jack Campbell sign significant extensions.
- Today, I'm going spot by spot through the positional spectrum on offense and defense -- from the most expensive position in football (quarterback) to the least (tight end) -- and breaking down the top of the market.
- I'll be using adjusted average value, or AAV, as the judge of the contracts atop each market.
Why this matters: a sports story that could shift standings, legacies, or fan conversations.
In the past few weeks, we've seen stars such as Drake London and Jack Campbell sign significant extensions. Earlier this offseason, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Trent Mc Duffie became the highest-paid players in football at their respective positions when they signed extensions with their teams. And on Wednesday, Patrick Mahomes signed the largest contract in NFL history, with the future Hall of Famer becoming the first player to ink a deal worth more than half a billion dollars.
Who's next to break the bank at each position? Today, I'm going spot by spot through the positional spectrum on offense and defense -- from the most expensive position in football (quarterback) to the least (tight end) -- and breaking down the top of the market. I'll also identify who is most likely to become the highest-paid player in the league at each position when they sign their next deal. In some cases, that's an obvious call. In others, it might be a product of a waiting game or require a sudden leap of faith.
I'll be using adjusted average value, or AAV, as the judge of the contracts atop each market. This isn't a perfect measure for a few reasons, which I'll touch on throughout this piece. Full guarantees at signing can be helpful, but some contracts are structured in such a way that money that might not seem guaranteed at signing might as well be in reality. New money can be valuable in looking at extensions, but if most of that money isn't guaranteed, it's not really meaningful. I use the amount of cash each player earns over the first three years after signing a contract as the best judge of what a player is likeliest to take home, but if you ask players or agents around the league what defines the top of the market, it's the largest AAV. So we'll work with that here.