Jaguars wide receiver Allen Hurns says that teammates, including tight end Julius Thomas, have been busting his chops over his $40MM contract extension.
“Like he hasn’t been paid,” Hurns said of Thomas (via ESPN.com’s Mike DiRocco). “He’s just loud. Me and [Allen Robinson] gave him a lot of problems last year and he said that our time was going to come around.”
Thomas, of course, signed a five-year, $46MM deal with the Jaguars last year. Today, however, Hurns is the talk of Jacksonville. Here’s a look at some of the reactions to Hurns’ fat new contract plus a glance at how it may affect the wide receiver market going forward:
- The market for No. 2 wide receivers has been reset after Hurns inked a four-year, $40MM extension with the Jaguars, Paul Dehner Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer tweets. Dehner adds that the deal puts Marvin Jones‘ sizable contract in perspective. This spring, Jones got a five-year, $40MM deal from the Lions with $17MM fully guaranteed ($20MM guaranteed overall).
- Sheil Kapadia of ESPN.com looked at how Hurns’ deal with Jacksonville could affect Doug Baldwin‘s negotiations with the Seahawks. Baldwin, he argues, has a legitimate case to be paid at Hurns’ level. While Hurns’ average of 16.1 yards per reception was better than Baldwin’s 13.7 ypc offering, Baldwin was more efficient with a catch rate of 80.4%, compared to 62.1% for Hurns. One notable difference, of course, is age – Hurns is 25 and Baldwin is 28. When all is said and done, Kapadia feels that the Seahawks will at least have to match the four-year, $40MM extension given to Hurns if they want to keep Baldwin in the long run.
- Hurns, who broke into the league as an undrafted free agent, is making $9.935MM in his first three NFL seasons. Only 2014’s top ten picks made more in the first three years of their rookie deals, Joel Corry of CBSSports.com tweets.