Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Landry deserves a fair-market deal
Peers’ contracts say he should be in at least $12M a year range
It is difficult to say what Jarvis Landry should get in a new deal from the Miami Dolphins without understanding what the NFL’s highest-paid receivers are earning.
We’re not talking about the terms of the deal announced when they are signed. Everyone in professional sports knows the only figures that matter in an NFL contract are the guaranteed dollars. We’re talking about real money that reaches their bank accounts.
That’s what Landry, a two-time Pro Bowler who is the 107th highest-paid receiver in the NFL, is focused on.
“We gonna get it some kind of way, you know that,” Landry said earlier this week, referring to a lucrative deal that will either come from a contract extension or from the franchise tag the Dolphins could use in 2018 to retain the former LSU standout — or from another team if Miami decides not to use the franchise or transition tag on Landry.
Landry, who has 288 receptions for 3,051 yards and 14 touchdowns in three seasons with the Dolphins, hopes to get a new deal done with Miami before his deadline, which is the Dolphins’ regular-season opener Sept. 10.
Here’s an examination of recent contracts, taking a look at what many of the NFL’s best receivers have earned on their second, or third deals:
Antonio Brown was the NFL’s most handsomely paid receiver this offseason because Alshon Jeffrey was forced to take a one-year, $9.5 million deal from Philadelphia, and Desean Jackson only managed to get a three-year, $33.5 million deal ($20 million of which is fully guaranteed) from Tampa Bay. Jackson, who checks in as one of the NFL’s 10 highest-paid receivers, will likely earn $23.5 million in the first two years of his deal with the Buccaneers, averages $11.75 million for the first two seasons of his new deal.
Brown is getting $33.78 million in guaranteed money over the next two seasons, and 2019 features an opt-in year for Pittsburgh, which has a $3.5 million roster bonus for Brown due on the fifth day of the league year. He’s supposed to make $12.6 million that season. The bottom line on Brown’s contract is that he’ll average $15.6 million a year over the next two seasons.
While playing on his fifth-year option, which was worth $11.75 million in 2011, Cincinnati signed A.J. Green to a four-year, $60 million extension that should carry him through the 2019 season. Green will receive $47.25 million in the first years of that deal, and is slated to make $10.75 million in base salary and bonuses in 2018, and $12.17 million in 2019. That means Green will average $14 million a season until 2020 when he becomes a free agent at 31.
Julio Jones signed a five-year, $71.25 million extension with Atlanta in 2015, of which $35.5 million was fully guaranteed, and another $11.5 million was guaranteed for injury only. The most Jones has ever earned in one season was $13.5 million if we don’t factor in his first-year salary ($10 million) and signing bonus ($12 million) of that deal. Jones has netted $47 million in the first three years of that deal with the Falcons, which averages out to $15.6 million a season.
Dallas’ Dez Bryant has a similar five-year, $70 million contract, which paid him a $20 million signing bonus and guaranteed him $32 million. Bryant will have earned $45 million in the first three years of the deal, which means the three-time Pro Bowler also taken home $15 million a year for those seasons. Bryant is on the books to make $12.5 million in each of the next two seasons.
Denver’s Demaryius Thomas got nearly an identical contract to Bryant, but $35 million if his deal was fully guaranteed back in 2015. Thomas will have earned $47.54 million over the first three years of the deal, which means he’s averaged $15.8 million a season since 2015. He’s due $8.5 million in 2018 and $14 million in 2019, neither of which are guaranteed.
Indianapolis’ T.Y Hilton has the most modest contract when it comes to the highest-paid receivers. Hilton signed a five-year, $65 million extension in 2015 when the former FIU standout, and third-round pick, found himself in a similar situation to Landry that offseason. Hilton received $10 million from his signing bonus, and $38 million of his new deal was guaranteed for injury only. However, Hilton will make $45 million in the first three years of that deal, which means he’s netted $15 million a season since 2015. He’s scheduled to make $11 million in 2018 and $13 million in 2019.
The next three among the NFL’s highest paid receivers are Landry’s slot peers — Doug Baldwin, Keenan Allen and Emmanuel Sanders — who all check in around the $10-12 million a year salary range.
Baldwin got a four-year, $46 million extension in 2016 from Seattle, which featured an $8.6 million signing bonus, and $6.5 million in roster bonuses over the next five seasons. Baldwin will have earned $21.85 million over the first two years of the deal, which averages out to just under $11 million a season. He’s slated to make $8.75 million in 2018, $10 million in 2019 and $11 million in 2020, but none of those base salaries, and bonuses are guaranteed.
Last offseason Allen, a 2013 third-round pick, signed a four-year, $45 million extension with San Diego, which featured $9.5 million in a signing bonuses, and $9.5 million in a roster bonuses paid out last season and this season. Allen can earn $4 million in additional salary through performance escalators. Allen, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Chargers’ season opener last year, will earn a little over $22 million in the first two years of that new deal. He’s scheduled to make $7.75 million in base salary and bonuses in 2018, $8.25 million in 2019, and $8.75 million in 2020.
Sanders, who signed a three-year, $33 million contract to stay with Denver in 2016, received an $11.75 million signing bonus and $26.9 million of his salary is fully guaranteed for injury. The two-time Pro Bowler will earn $21.1 million of his contract in the first two seasons, which means he’s pulling in $10.5 million a year. He’s scheduled to make $8.25 million in 2018 and $10.25 million in 2019.
When adding up all the guaranteed salaries the NFL’s 10 highest-paid receivers will earn over the next two seasons it indicates that a fair price point for Landry would be a new four- or five-year deal that pays him at least $12 million a season over the first two years of the deal, which should be fully guaranteed.
Everything else after that is just window dressing because of the nature of NFL contacts. If I’m Landry I’d fight to make sure Year 3 is guaranteed for injury, and that there’s a substantial ($4 million) roster bonus in Year 4, which could get him back to free agency at 27 years old.