Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson (18) catches a pass as head coach Kevin O’Connell (right) looks on during an NFL football practice at the team’s minicamp in Eagan, Minn., Wednesday, June 5, 2024. (AP Photo/Abby Parr)
By Rob Murdy, AP Pro Football Writer
Justin Jefferson has transformed the wide receiver market by becoming the highest-paid player in the NFL outside of a quarterback.
That distinction shouldn’t last long.
CeeDee Lamb is due to get paid soon, as is Ja’Marr Chase. Eight receivers signed deals worth more than $20 million per season during the offseason, but Tyreek Hill wants a new deal because Jefferson, A.J. Brown and Amon-Ra St. Brown all surpass Hill in average annual value.
Those soaring salaries will continue to rise as the league’s salary cap increases, which increased by $30 million this season to $255.4 million.
Henry Organ, an NFL agent at Disruptive Sports, expects the cap to exceed $300 million by 2026.
“The Jefferson deal is on par with expectations.” “It’s a big part of what I’ve been doing,” said Organ, who negotiated a three-year, $19.5 million contract with Patriots wide receiver Kendrick Bourne early in free agency.
Organ noted that top receivers will continue to get a similar percentage of a team’s total payroll, so their contracts will increase with the cap increase. Jefferson currently makes up 13.3% of Minnesota’s cap figure. The five quarterbacks making more than $50 million per season make up about 20% of a team’s cap figure.
“As quarterback contracts increase, it makes sense that receivers will become more valuable.” His agent, Drew Rosenhaus, told The Associated Press.
The Vikings gave Jefferson a four-year, $140 million contract extension, which includes $110 million guaranteed and $88.7 million due at signing.
Brown signed a three-year, $96 million contract with the Eagles, which includes $84 million guaranteed and a $19.8 million signing bonus.
When the Lions gave St. Brown a four-year contract extension worth just over $120 million with $77 million guaranteed, St. Brown briefly became the highest-paid receiver.
Hill was the Dolphins’ highest-paid receiver to date after signing a four-year, $120 million contract through 2022.
The five-time All-Pro selection exceeded lofty expectations in Miami but found himself falling to fourth on the salary list.
“At the end of the day, if you feel like you’re in the top five at something — if you work for Amazon, if you’re one of the top Amazon delivery drivers — you’re going to feel some kind of way.” “He was a very stubborn man,” said Hill, who is represented by Rosenhaus. “You’re going to go to your boss and say, ‘Hey, I do 100 routes and this guy only does 65. I should be the highest paid,’ you know? So if you think you deserve something, get it.”
Hill’s teammate, Jaylen Waddle, recently signed a three-year extension worth $84.75 million, including $76 million guaranteed. Brown’s teammate, DeVonta Smith, signed a three-year contract in April worth $75 million, including $51 million guaranteed. Smith doesn’t regret waiting for the market to crash.
“I can’t count other people’s wallets. I’m right where I want to be.” Smith said. “This is where I wanted to go. At the end of the day, this is a life-changing place for me.”
Lamb missed mandatory minicamp while seeking a new contract with the Cowboys. Dallas is already facing salary-cap issues, with quarterback Dak Prescott in the final season of a four-year, $160 million contract and star edge rusher Micah Parsons due for a big raise this year or next.
Parsons has the potential to become the league’s highest-paid non-quarterback, an honor previously held by San Francisco’s Nick Bosa before Jefferson took over.
Chase, like Parsons, is under contract through 2025 but is eligible for an extension. Bengals teammate Tee Higgins has yet to sign his $21.8 million franchise tag for this season, so Cincinnati would have two big-money wide receivers if it were to keep both of them.
“Quarterbacks have always been the highest paid, and that market has just exploded. Left tackles, edge rushers and shutdown defensive backs all have a lot more negotiating power and are getting paid exponentially more.” That’s what Leigh Steinberg, the agent for Chiefs guard Patrick Mahomes, said. “Wide receiver wasn’t a very favored position until the wide receiver market exploded last year. … Once that dam broke, wide receiver became a favored position with a lot of negotiating power. The market for elite wide receivers is going to continue to grow.”
Not only are players making more money, but their guaranteed sums are rising. Jefferson’s new contract makes him the most guaranteed player for a non-quarterback, and his agent will likely continue to push for more. MLB and NBA salaries are almost entirely guaranteed. NFL players, who play a more competitive sport, are still playing catch-up.
“I also believe that NFL contracts are on track to be fully guaranteed for many of the NFL’s top players.” Rosenhaus said. “It’s great to see us moving in that direction. It’s time for NFL contracts to be treated the same as other major sports with fully guaranteed contracts.”
Steinberg said first-round draft picks receive fully or partially guaranteed contracts. “The contract fee also needs to be factored into the discussion.”
“Football is the only sport where you get a huge guaranteed signing-on bonus at the start of a contract.” Steinberg said. “The trend towards guaranteed contracts will continue to grow, but the bonus portion of NFL contracts may taper off if the entire amount of the contract is guaranteed.”
Regardless of how or when they acquire them, the best players will continue to make astronomical amounts of money.
