Trey McBride loomed as a Cardinals extension candidate, and the team will take care of this important business early. The sides are in agreement on a record-setting deal.
The Cardinals are giving McBride a four-year, $76M extension, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This deal, which includes $43MM guaranteed, brings the tight end market to $19MM AAV. NFL.com’s Mike Garafolo had reported during an appearance with PHNX Sports a deal was close.
A gargantuan gap still exists between the wide receiver market and tight ends, one that has grown over the past several years, but McBride will become the league’s highest-paid TE by nearly $2MM per year. The Chiefs’ 2024 Travis Kelce raise had elevated the market to $17.1MM AAV; otherwise, no other tight end was attached to a deal that surpassed $16.5MM. While still arguably underpaid, tight ends have at least now approached $20MM-per-year territory. A once-TE-desperate team, which received a long-awaited boost via McBride, is authorizing it.
Between moving to Phoenix in 1988 and acquiring Zach Ertz in 2021, the Cardinals had never seen a tight end eclipse 570 receiving yards in a season. Eventual Cowboys Super Bowl winner Jay Novacek had held the franchise’s top Arizona-years TE yardage number (569) for 33 years prior to Ertz narrowly eclipsing it (574). Taking over for Ertz as the team’s top tight end midway through the 2023 season, McBride smashed through that ceiling by accumulating 825 yards. He became only the second tight end in team history — following St. Louis-years great Jackie Smith — to eclipse 1,000 yards in a season by reaching 1,146 last season.
A second-round pick during Steve Keim‘s final draft at the helm, McBride is 10 years younger than Kelce; the 25-year-old pass catcher represents a central part of the Cardinals’ passing attack, accompanying 2024 top-five pick Marvin Harrison Jr. as the team’s aerial cornerstones. Harrison is tied to a rookie-scale deal through at least 2026; that period will now overlap with the guarantees on McBride’s accord. Though, the Cardinals are likely eyeing a true long-term partnership with their long-awaited TE find.
Though establishing himself as a prolific receiving option in the desert, McBride only totaled five combined touchdowns from 2023-24. Drawing the ire of fantasy GMs, the Cardinals did not see a McBride TD occur until Week 17 last season. He added another in Week 18. The Colorado State alum had posted three 100-yard games, however, and his 111 receptions in 2024 sit second only to DeAndre Hopkins‘ 2020 total (115) in the Cardinals’ 100-plus-year history.
The NFL saw Rob Gronkowski‘s Patriots-friendly extension (six years, $54MM) gridlock the tight end market for most of the 2010s; it took until 2020 for a player at the position (Austin Hooper, interestingly enough) to reach $10.5MM per year. Kelce accepting Chiefs-friendly deals (in 2015 and 2020) also played a role in restricting this market while WR paydays soared.
Even during Gronk’s stranglehold on the market, receivers and tight ends were not nearly as far apart in value as they are today. Ja’Marr Chase‘s new Bengals deal more than doubles McBride’s, leaving the next wave of TEs with work to do. McBride’s contract closed a small portion of this gap, however, and it can still be argued — due to the fourth-year player’s importance in Arizona’s passing attack — this is a Cards-friendly agreement.
The Cards are still waiting for Kyler Murray to show the Pro Bowl-level form he did earlier in his career, but the team has two high-end weapons for the well-compensated passer to target. And Thursday’s agreement ensures no concerns will be in place about the duo’s status as long-term linchpins going into the Cardinals’ offseason program.
Well earned by McBride, smart of the Cardinals to lock him up. But this also is one more reason I’d rather not take a tight end with a top ten pick. Even if the guy turns out to be a very good starter, he’s not providing as much surplus value as a very good starter at a position like receiver or lineman. And highly drafted tight ends have a pretty high bust rate too.
For every rule, there’s a Kittle exception.
Kittle was a fifth round pick and makes less than a good second receiver.
Indeed, I wasn’t really disagreeing with your point outside than the surplus value assertion.
He doesn’t have or Kelce’s or McBride’s hands.
I’m sorry, what?
My assertion is that successful first round picks provide less surplus value at tight end because good tight ends don’t make as much money on second and third contracts as several other positions.
That’s ridiculous.
The value is determined by what you get out of them.
An elite tight end (especially one who can block) is immeasurably important.
How much surplus value you’re getting out of a rookie contract absolutely matters. What the market pays different kind of players matters. You can call something “immeasurably important” but the league measurably values it less than other things.
I don’t know if it’s accurate to say that the LEAGUE necessarily values TE play less than it is to say that TEs just haven’t broken that ceiling yet. The league is always going to pay as little as possible, based on what these guys can realistically demand. That’s not 100% in line with what value these guys give on the field at their position, it’s just in line with what the majority of teams are able to get them to sign for.
Mark Andrews, for instance, has been by far the most valuable Raven as a pass catcher since he and Jackson came into the league. If you knew that you could get that type of production from a player, you’d definitely take him in the first. An example of a TE that WAS actually taken in the first and who provides similar value is Brock Bowers. They may be fewer in number than some other positions, but you can find TEs who offer a first round type value in many drafts.
Sure, and I think there are two surefire first round tight ends in the draft this year, but I think it would be bad process if the Jets took one at seven. I think Bowers is amazing and I’m still good with the Jets having taken their left tackle of the future instead. And that’s after the guy has already hit. It’s a harder position to project to the pros. And yes, it’s valued less. McBride just set a record for an AAV less than half of Chase and Jefferson. A prime Kelce or Gronk never approached their top receiver peers either.
The thing is, that monetary value isn’t an accurate representation of what’s on the field. As we’ve seen, some teams could not get by without a specific TE. As the article presented, the top earners in the TE market also haven’t really attempted to push the needle like the WRs have. I don’t disagree with your evaluation of the Jets’ options, but I do think it to be a stretch to say that TEs simply aren’t valued as much just because their contracts are lower. This is just what they can get away with. There’s some merit to your point, but it’s not a line that I think conveys complete accuracy.
That’s fair to a point, but when a couple of dozen receivers and a significant number of linemen are making more than the highest paid tight end, it does speak to different valuation.
Bowers?
Well deserved. Cardinals need more defensive pieces and maybe another WR and they can compete in the nfc again
Unfortunately, somewhere deep in the heart of Texas, Jerry still won’t glean anything from this teachable moment ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Only 6 tds in three years?
I see your point, and though I do sort of see this as a mild surprise in terms of amount, consider two things. One is that the cap is shooting up crazily in value, which could make this a bargain in a few seasons. The other is that Arizona has consistently had one of the worst red zone offenses in the league during much of McBride’s tenure. That’s not necessarily an indication that he’s bad, as much as it is an indictment against the team as a whole. So, McBride’s touchdown totals could be slightly misleading.
McBride does not get many looks in the redzone despite his status. Think he got more looks in Week 17 than the prior 15 games combined because they were making it a point to target him down there to get him a score. He’s their #1 option at the moment so opposing defenses are focusing on him down in the redzone plus the Cardinals had a tendency to hand it off to James Conner or let Kyler run it when they did get close.