Quarterback may be the most important position in sports, and the NFL features more teams than starting-caliber signal-callers, observes Joel Corry of CBS Sports. Those factors should put QBs in advantageous positions when it comes to negotiating contracts, but Corry argues that their salaries aren’t high enough. When the Packers’ Aaron Rodgers signed a five-year, $110MM deal to become the league’s highest-paid player in 2013, the salary cap was $123MM. The cap has risen 35.77 percent since then, going to $167MM, but the league’s new benchmark deal – the five-year, $125.05MM pact the Raiders’ Derek Carr inked last month – is only 13.7 percent higher than Rodgers’. But if the Redskins’ Kirk Cousins reaches the open market next winter, that could be a true game changer for QB salaries, posits Corry. Cousins might end up with a deal worth $30MM per year as a free agent, which would set the standard for the extensions Rodgers and the Falcons’ Matt Ryan could sign next offseason.
- As is the case with Cousins, the 2014 draft class could dramatically influence earning power throughout the league, writes Dan Graziano of ESPN.com. A few members of the class, including Carr, have already inked rich contracts this offseason. More high-paying accords are on the way, notes Graziano, who points to 2014’s star-studded group of receivers (Odell Beckham Jr. leads the way), elite defenders Khalil Mack and Aaron Donald, running back Devonta Freeman and cornerback Malcolm Butler, among others, as players in line for enormous paydays in the near future.
- While the unemployed Jeff Fisher would like another head coaching job, he hasn’t done enough to deserve another opportunity, says Don Banks of Patriots.com (video link). Fisher, whom the Rams fired last season after a 4-9 start, wouldn’t be the type of hire capable of energizing a fan base, notes Banks. The 59-year-old hasn’t coached an above-.500 team team since 2008, when he was with the Titans, and hasn’t been at the helm of a club that won a playoff game since 2003. Further, with a combined 165 losses in his 22 years with the Titans and Rams, Fisher’s tied with Dan Reeves for the most defeats of all-time.
- Among last year’s playoff teams, the Cowboys have experienced the most roster turnover this offseason, per Jason Fitzgerald of Over the Cap. Dallas has lost 27.5 percent of snaps, including 21.4 percent of quality snaps, since 2016, according to Fitzgerald. Ronald Leary, Doug Free, Morris Claiborne, Brandon Carr, Barry Church, Terrell McClain, J.J. Wilcox and Jack Crawford were among the Cowboys’ notables who either went elsewhere as free agents or retired. There aren’t any indispensable players in that group, but having to replace all of them at once is a tall task, opines Fitzgerald.