Alex Mack’s Potential Poison Pill Contract

Alex Mack‘s offer sheet will reportedly pay him between $18MM and $20MM over the first two years regardless of whether he ends up with the Browns or the Jaguars, reports Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk. Including the third year, it could be worth as much as $27MM. All of the first three years could be fully guaranteed.

It would leave Mack with the option to void the deal after two years. The Jaguars reportedly feel they have a 50/50 chance of eventually bringing Mack in. The Browns will have five days to decide whether or not to match from the time Mack signs the offer sheet.

Mike Garafolo of Fox Sports 1 reports that this deal will make Mack the highest paid center in the NFL (via Twitter). He also notes that if Mack had played 2014 under the transition tag, that also would have made him the highest paid center that season (via Twitter). This new deal will make him the highest paid center over the course of a long term deal.

wrote a piece about the history of poison pill contracts, and what the NFL allows in terms of language that would dissuade a team from matching an offer. This is what has been expected of the Jaguars, as they are afraid the Browns will elect to match the offer. He writes that while the NFL has banned the practices that led to poison pill contracts like those of Steve Hutchinson and Nate Burleson following the 2005 season.

However, Fitzgerald writes that the Mack situation could be similar to the Curtis Martin contract in 1998, where the contract was frontloaded with an early player option. Based on the details already leaked, this type of contract is certainly in play.