On Friday, the Jets shocked the football world when they announced that they struck agreement with Muhammad Wilkerson on a multi-year deal before the franchise tag contract deadline. Not only did the Jets hammer out a deal with a player that seemed as good as gone after 2016, they added to the drama by announcing the pact after the 4pm ET/3pm CT deadline had passed. 
The basic parameters of the contract were known almost instantly. The five-year deal was worth $86MM in total ($17.2MM average annual value) and $54MM coming to the defensive lineman over the next three years. Overall, the 26-year-old received $53.5MM guaranteed for injury. Now, we have the full breakdown of the contract, via Darryl Slater of NJ.com:
- Signing bonus: $15MM
- Roster bonus: $4.5MM in 2016 (paid on July 20)
- Total guarantee: $53.5MM (the total guarantee at signing number, plus 2018 base salary)
- Total guarantee at signing: $36.75MM (2016-17 base salaries, signing bonus, roster bonus)
- 2016: $2.5MM base salary, $10MM salary cap figure
- 2017: $14.75MM base salary, $18MM salary cap figure, $26.75MM dead money figure
- 2018: $16.75MM base salary*, $20MM salary cap figure, $9MM dead money figure
- 2019: $15.25MM base salary, $18.5MM salary cap figure, $6MM dead money figure
- 2020: $16.25MM base salary, $19.5MM salary cap figure, $3MM dead money figure
- $250K workout bonus every year from 2017-20.
*Wilkerson’s $16.75MM base salary for 2018 is guaranteed for injury only at the time of signing. That salary becomes fully guaranteed if he is on the roster on the third day of the 2018 league year.
In some respects, Wilkerson netted himself a solid deal, but as Jason Fitzgerald of Over The Cap (Twitter links) notes, his deal comes with less up front cash than the contracts given to Olivier Vernon and Fletcher Cox. Vernon got $40MM fully guaranteed and $52MM guaranteed overall on his five-year, $85MM deal with the Giants. Cox, meanwhile, got $36.299MM fully guaranteed and $55.5MM+ effectively guaranteed when he inked his massive six-year, $103MM deal with the Eagles in June.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Muhamed Wilkerson got a windfall but showed its not about milking every single penny. I’m sure if he played it out till next year he could have gotten more. I think the Jets are a little wary of Richardson and decided to lock in the solid guy.
I also think the Jets lowballed Wilkerson to a degree and didn’t expect him to accept this deal.
But, yes, I agree – I think the Jets realized that they wanted additional insurance against Richardson messing up again.