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What could an extension for Justin Jefferson look like and when will the Vikings offer one?
We have seen over the last few months a handful of top wide receivers receive contract extensions that average over 24M per year.
Player : Age : Total : Avg/Yr : Yr Signed
Tyreek Hill : 28 : $120,000,000 : $30,000,000 : 2022
Davante Adams : 30 : $140,000,000 : $28,000,000 : 2022
Cooper Kupp : 29 : $80,100,000 : $26,700,000 : 2022
A.J. Brown : 25 : $100,000,000 : $25,000,000 : 2022
Stefon Diggs : 29 : $96,000,000 : $24,000,000 : 2022
D.J. Moore : 25 : $61,884,000 : $20,628,000 : 2022
Mike Williams : 28 : $60,000,000 : $20,000,000 : 2022
Terry McLaurin : 27 : $70,000,000 : $28,000,000 : 2022
The question is how many first round picks received new deals after only 3 years? I cant find any first rounders.
Josh Allen after 3rd year
Christian McCaffrey after 3rd year
Kolton Miller after 3rd year
Frank Ragnow after 3rd year
Jake Matthews after 3rd year
Myles Garrett after 3rd year
Vita Vea after 4th year
Jaire Alexander after 4th year
DJ Moore after 4th year
Jamal Adams after 4th year
Mike Evans after 4th year
Brandin Cook after 4th year
DeAndre Hopkins after 4th year
Odell Beckham Jr after 4th year
Khalil Mack after 4th year
Aaron Donald after 4th year
Taylor Lewan after 4th year
Zach Martin after 4th year
Anthony Barr after 5th year
* Terry McLaurin after 3rd year (he was a third round pick and the team did not have a fifth year option)
There are not any first round receivers who got a deal after only 3 years but JJ has set the record for most receiving yards and tied for most receptions in a players first two seasons. Assuming he has another 98 catches with 1500 yards and 8 TDs then it might be very wise to lock him up before the numbers go even higher.
What other receivers will be free agents in 2023 provided that they do not receive an extension before?
2023 Free Agents
Deebo Samuel
DK Metcalf
Diontae Johnson
JuJu Smith-Schuster
Jakobi Meyers
Mecole Hardman
DJ Chark
JJ will be at the top of this list with Deebo & Metcalf.
I think that if everything works out and he has another great year, a 4 year 124M extension would be pretty fair.
He gets a 30M signing bonus (highest) and 76M guaranteed (highest).
His contract would run from 2024 through 2027.
His salaries would be $2,399,473, 22.5M, 23.5M, 23.5M, and 24.5M.
His cap hits would be $10,175,437, 28.5M, 29.5M, 29.5M, and 30.5M
This would cost the Vikings an extra 6M in cap space in 2023.
Right now, the team has 10.9M in cap space but need to sign Booth and Ingram which would would use about 811K since they would displace two players at the bottom of the top 51 used to calculate the cap space. Once the season starts, they need to add 1.79M for spots 52 & 53 plus about another 3M for practice squad salaries. If they do not sign anyone else they probably are looking at carrying over 5M into 2023.
Za’Darius Smith and Adam Thielen have some decent incentives that could eat into the 2023 cap space as well. Without the carryover and incentive adjustments the team has $2,078,689 in cap space in 2023. They have to make some kind of adjustments in order to extend JJ. The top two candidates for moving on are Kendricks and Cook. Ham is likely a cap casualty as well. Those three removals would get the team to $22,527,416 in cap space. Moving on from Chris Reed saves 2.5M as well. This would get the team to $25,527,416 in cap space.
JJ’s extension leaves them with 19.5M in cap space.
Assuming that Hunter plays all season and gets double digit sacks, they might be able to extend him with a 4 yr 84M? deal which could cost 4M in cap space giving them 15.5M to do things.
They can extend Tomlinson without incurring any cap hit because he already has a 7.5M dead money cap hit. Maybe a 4 yr 42M deal?
If they do these moves, leave the contracts of Thielen, H. Smith, & Z. Smith alone, they would have 14.8M to sign rookies and possibly some inhouse free agents. The likely main inhouse free agents are Garrett Bradbury, Irv Smith Jr, Patrick Peterson, Chandon Sullivan, Armon Watts, and Jesse Davis. It will be tight if they plan on keeping most of the high paid players.
The question is should the Vikings set a precedent of giving a first round receiver an extension after only 3 years?
I have to say yes! 100%
Poll
What extension would be best for the team?
This poll is closed
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37%
4 year 124M after 3rd year?
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22%
4 year 120M after 3rd year?
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7%
4 year 116M after 3rd year?
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12%
4 year 112M after 3rd year?
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20%
Wait until after 4th year with a likely higher price?
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