The clock is ticking for teams to sign franchised players for a long-term deal. The deadline for franchise players to sign multi-year contracts is July 15 at 4 p.m. ET. After the deadline passes, players with franchises are prohibited from signing long-term deals until the end of the regular season on January 8, 2023.
Eight players earned the franchise player ratings this year. Four already signed for the long run. The two broad recipients quickly agreed on deals after the start of the 2022 league year on March 16. The Buccaneers gave Chris Goodwin a three-year, $60 million deal with $40 million fully guaranteed despite rupturing his ACL and MCL in his right knee late in the 2021 regular season.
The Raiders acquired Davante Adams from the Packers for 2022 in the first and second round of picks in a signing and trading deal. Adams signed a five-year, $140 million contract that contained $65.67 million in warranties. Adams’ maximum contract value is $141.25 million due to an annual Pro Bowl incentive of $250,000. Adams’ deal is really $67.5 million over three years because there’s been $72.5 million in the last two years. Adams’ chances of playing 2025 and 2026 for $36.25 million each when he’s 32 and 33 years old are far away.
Jaguars have signed a three-year, $52.75 million left-hand contract with Cam Robinson with $33 million fully guaranteed. The deal is worth $54.25 million with incentives.
Brown made David Njoku the fifth highest-paid narrow end in the NFL with an average annual salary of $13,687,500 per year. Ngoku’s four-year contract worth $54.75 million has collateral worth $28 million. The maximum deal value is $56.75 million thanks to $500,000 in annual incentives based on All-Pro choices.
Here’s a look at the positions of the four franchise players who haven’t signed on for the long haul.
There was no doubt that The Chiefs would have acquired the Brown franchise for $16.662 million. The Chiefs couldn’t risk Brown being a one-year leasehold by becoming a free agent given the draft capital required to get him from the Ravens shortly before the 2021 NFL Draft.
Brown forced the trade because he wanted to be a left tackle, which wasn’t possible in Baltimore because of All-Pro Ronnie Stanley. The Chiefs relinquished their 2021 first-round pick (31st overall), third-round pick in 2021, fourth-round pick in 2022 and fifth-round pick in 2022 to the Ravens for Brown, second-round pick in 2021 and 2022 in the sixth. Round selection.
Brown verified his transition from right tackle to left tackle by picking the Pro Bowl team last season. Chiefs are more likely to join the ranks of premium-paying teams when no long-term deal is made for a player who has had time left on his contract in connection with a trade that involves a large venture capital project.
Brown, who recently appointed Michael Portner of Delta Sports Group as his new agent, has expressed optimism about his signing. Any long-term deal is sure to put Brown in the $20 million a year offensive line club, which currently has three members. Left deals with Trent Williams, David Bakhtiari and Larmy Tuncel have deals with the 49ers, Packers and Texans, averaging $23.01 million, $23 million and $22 million per year, respectively.
It is said that Bates has no intention of playing under his $12.911 million franchise tag. Getting out of the season if a long-term agreement is not reached by July 15 will come as a surprise. The franchise mark is more than double what Bates made from his four-year rookie contract that expired after the 2021 season. Bates’ career earnings to date from his contract with the NFL player are just over $6.225 million.
It’s rare for franchise players to miss a season. The last time that happened before the Steelers rolled back Levon Bell in 2018 was with Chiefs defensive lineman Dan Williams in 1998.
The Bengals will likely view the $14 million a year Marcus Williams, who was named a franchise player by the Saints in 2021, from the Ravens in a five-year deal at free agency this year as proof of Bates’ worth. It’s possible that Bates was looking for a deal in the same vicinity as Jamal Adams, who reset the safety market with a four-year contract extension worth $70 million, averaging $17.5 million annually and valued at up to $72 million through incentives and payrolls from Seahawks last August.
That was before recent developments in the security market. The Steelers made Minkah Fitzpatrick the best safe in the league over a four-year span, averaging $18.247 million per year with $36 million fully guaranteed, which only complicates matters.
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Schultz quickly signed his $10.931 million bid after the Cowboys made him a franchise player in March. Frustrated by the slow pace of negotiations for a new contract, Schultz skipped the final part of the team’s organized activities. He avoided being fined $95,877 by attending the mandatory mini-camp in June.
The Cowboys couldn’t be happier with Njoku’s deal. Njoku’s average $1,3687,500 per year should be a minimum salary for Schultz especially since Njoku is statistically underrated.
Schultz had a career year in 2021 with 78 catches, receiving 808 yards and eight touchdowns. He was more productive last season in 17 games than Ngoku was for the past two seasons combined in the 29 games he played. Njoku caught 55 passes for 688 yards with six touchdowns. Schultz produced 23 more receivers, 120 yards more than the receiving yard and two more catches than Ngoku.
It is said that Schultz and the Cowboys are not about to strike a deal. Playing a franchise tag game wasn’t the most economical move for a cowboy. The last time someone had Dallas played a season under a franchise tag, it cost them more to sign players for the long-term. The same concept will likely apply to Schultz with a fruitful 2022 season.
The Cowboys certainly wouldn’t have needed to sign defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence to a five-year, $105 million contract, averaging $21 million a year, if a deal had been struck in 2018. At the July 15 long-term deal deadline, the Cowboys didn’t There wasn’t $20 million a year other than quarterback.
Dak Prescott did not sign a $40 million contract in March 2021 with an agreement reached in July 2020. There’s a good chance Prescott’s deal is under the $35 million-a-year extension that Russell Wilson signed with the Seahawks in 2019. Deshaun Watson didn’t get his extension The $39 million annually from Texas, which was apparently an important data point for Prescott, even just before the start of the 2020 regular season.
All was quiet on Jesiki’s holding front. Unless something changes, Gesicki will play under the $10.931 million franchise he signed in March.
Similar to the Cowboys and Schultz, the Browns did no favors for the Dolphins with the Njoku contract. Gesicki’s 2021 production has also been better than Njoku’s production over the past two seasons. His catches of 73 yards and 780 yards, both career highs, were 18 more and 92 more respectively than Ngoku.
There is a potential dynamic with Gesicki that does not exist with Schultz. Jesecki could follow in Jimmy Graham’s footsteps and file a complaint to be labeled a wide receiver rather than a narrow end by designating his franchise player. The difference between the two marks is $7.488 million as the 2022 wide receiver number is $18.419 million.
Under an NFL collective bargaining agreement, franchises are determined by the position a player has participated in in the most games during the previous season. According to Pro Football Focus, 54.78% of Gesicki’s 827 offensive shots in 2021 were in the hole, 11.97% were tight finals and 30.74% were wide.
Graham lost his complaint in 2014. Arbitrator Stephen Burbank ruled that Graham was a court finish when he lined up in the hole 4 yards from an attacking lineman, which he did in more than 50% of his plays with the Saints in 2013.
