The NFL owners are considering a drastic response to quarterback contracts
Trevor Lawrence’s contract extension sent many eyebrows sky-high around the NFL.
This simple comparison explains why.
And yet, Lawrence received $55 million per year with $142 million guaranteed at signing. This was the most egregious in a list of quarterback contracts that completely outpace the player’s performance. No doubt, Tua Tagovailoa will seek to exceed Lawrence’s deal.
It’s safe to say that NFL owners have taken notice. With the outrageous cap hits these passers command, it is very difficult to retain other top talent. Even the Chiefs, who have won back-to-back Super Bowls despite paying Patrick Mahomes, acutely feel the loss of Tyreek Hill. The trend in Super Bowls over the past decade-plus is that passers on their second contracts (outside of Tom Brady, who always took far less money than he deserved) do not win rings.
Therefore, some owners are considering a separate salary cap for quarterbacks.
🚨🚨REPORT: Some #NFL owners are discussing a potential separate salary cap for JUST QUARTERBACKS, due to how crazy the market has gotten, NFL media reports.
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This would change the landscape of the sport forever. pic.twitter.com/miG9GkrhY5
— MLFootball (@_MLFootball) June 19, 2024
How this would work is a mystery. Would there be a hard cap on how much a team can pay a quarterback? Would it be a certain percentage of the salary cap? How would it change from year to year?
It’s also likely that the NFLPA would push back, although it’s not entirely certain. Even if this caps the pay of quarterbacks, it could increase pay at other positions, evening the playing field somewhat.
At this point, it seems like just a thought rather than a legitimate proposal. But after how the contracts of players like Deshaun Watson, Kyler Murray, and Daniel Jones have worked out thus far, it’s reasonable for the owners to seek some sort of protection from having to dole out record-breaking dollars to non-elite passers.
