10:24am: Reed will get a “base” of $46.5MM over five seasons, per Mike Florio of PFT (on Twitter). The new-money average on the deal is $9.3MM per year.
8:35am: Reed has officially signed his new five-year extension to remain in Washington, the team has confirmed via its website.
8:25am: Washington has locked up a key piece of its offense for the long term, according to Peter Schrager of FOX Sports, who reports (via Twitter) that the team has agreed to a five-year extension with tight end Jordan Reed. It will be worth $50MM over five years, tweets Adam Schefter of ESPN.com.
While Schefter places the annual average value of Reed’s new extension at $10MM per year, Schrager tweets that it’s actually the second-largest deal for a tight end, behind Jimmy Graham‘s contract, which is also worth $10MM annually. Pro Football Talk (via Twitter) confirms that the total value of Reed’s contract is actually just under $50MM, so it doesn’t quite reach that $10MM-per-year threshold. Per PFT, the extension also includes $22MM in guarantees, though it’s not clear how much of that is fully guaranteed.
We may have to wait for the full year-by-year breakdown of Reed’s new contract to get a real idea of how it compares to other top tight end deals, but it certainly looks like a very nice payday for the former third-round pick, who had a breakout campaign in 2015.
After being limited to just 20 overall games in 2013 and 2014, Reed stayed healthy for 14 games last season, racking up 87 receptions for 952 yards and 11 touchdowns. In spite of Reed’s injury history, he seemed destined for a lucrative long-term extension, with Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz having already signed new mega-deals this offseason — neither of those tight ends matched the impressive numbers that the Washington pass-catcher put up in 2015.
Reed had been preparing to enter the final year of his rookie contract, and would have earned a base salary of $1.661MM in 2016 under the terms of his old deal. Extending him now will allow Washington to apply some of the new money in the extension to the 2016 cap, likely increasing Reed’s $1.808MM cap charge, in addition to allowing the tight end to get paid a year early.
With Reed now under contract through the 2021 season, Washington will still need to address the contract situation for the quarterback throwing him the ball. Kirk Cousins, currently set to play the 2016 season under the franchise tag, has until July 15th to work out a multiyear extension with the team. Whether or not the two sides don’t come to terms by then, Cousins looks well-equipped to have another strong season, with Reed, DeSean Jackson, Pierre Garcon, Jamison Crowder, and first-round pick Josh Doctson all a part of his arsenal.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
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