.@RSherman_25 and @CalvinJohnsonJr speak how previous QB contracts have set the precedent on @LJ_Era8 not getting a fully guaranteed deal pic.twitter.com/vzadfWdwOu
— The Volume (@TheVolumeSports) March 24, 2023
There are a number of different people who might be held responsible for the fact that Lamar Jackson’s contract discussions with the Baltimore Ravens have come to a standstill. Nevertheless, veteran NFL cornerback Richard Sherman has two additional players in mind as possible culprits: quarterback Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills.
Sherman believes that the fact that Mahomes and Allen did not ask for fully-guaranteed deals when they signed their contract extensions caused the league to take a step backwards after Kirk Cousins signed a fully-guaranteed deal with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018, which set a record for the most money ever paid in a fully-guaranteed deal. In the end, Mahomes signed one of the most team-friendly agreements ever in the year 2020, which was a 10-year, $450 million contract with just $141 million for injury in the same year. Meanwhile, Allen extended his contract for an additional $258 million over the next six years, with $100 million guaranteed in 2021.
Mahomes’ contract has allowed the Chiefs to keep their roster at a championship-level, but according to Over The Cap, he is only the fifth highest-paid quarterback in the league measured by average annual value. This is despite the fact that Mahomes helped the Chiefs maintain their championship-level roster. When compared to someone who is, statistically speaking, the top performer at his position, it is a ludicrous figure. Allen, on the other hand, is placed sixth despite being a potential candidate for the position of second-best quarterback. Moreover, in each of the previous three seasons, the Bills have advanced at least as far as the divisional round of the playoffs.
This conversation about quarterback contracts was really kicked off in 2018 when Kirk Cousins signed a three-year, fully-guaranteed $84 million deal with the Minnesota Vikings. However, it reached its pinnacle in 2022 when the Cleveland Browns agreed to trade for Deshaun Watson and pay him the entirety of the $230 million he is owed over the course of his five-year contract. However, new contracts for players like Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray, and Matthew Stafford that same offseason proved Watson’s deal was more of an outlier than the new norm. Despite this, it prompted an investigation by the NFLPA into whether or not league owners colluded to stop teams from offering fully-guaranteed contracts.
