Taking Advantage of Young Quarterback’s Contract Is Essential

Over the past decade or so, it has become increasingly popular to pay an NFL quarterback an extreme amount of money. Almost so ordinary it seems NFL teams are prompted to pay big loads of money to these quarterbacks. Patrick Mahomes owns the biggest contract in the NFL pulling in 50 million dollars a year over 10 years. That’s a half billion dollar contract. No player is genuinely worth that money. Recently, Aaron Rodgers “bullied” the Green Bay Packers into paying him big money. Although he has brought in big contracts in his career, he frequently said he was unhappy with the organization when the drafted rookie quarterback Jordan Love back in 2019. Packers feared Rodgers would leave after multiple NFC championship losses in what seemed like every year. Rodgers has appeared in five NFC championships and has won one. Meaning he’s only been to one superbowl, in which the Packers won. Rodgers now makes 50 million dollars over the next four years.

 None of the five highest-paid quarterbacks in 2018 by average salary—Rodgers, Atlanta’s Matt Ryan, Minnesota’s Kirk Cousins, Garoppolo, and Detroit’s Matthew Stafford—made the playoffs,” Kevin Clark writes in “The Curse of a Salary Eating Quarterback.” Dating to this year none of the top ten highest paid quarterbacks for the 2021-2022 season made the superbowl. The article, “Who is the Highest Paid Quarterback?” Lists the top ten highest paid quarterbacks in the league. Deshaun Watson who is fourth didn’t even play this year due to legal issues. Jared Goff, Kirk Cousins, Carson Wentz, and Matt Ryan highlight seven through 10 and none made the playoffs. 

With that being said, smart teams capitalize on a young quarterback’s salary. When paying a quarterback tons of money against the cap, it limits a team’s ability to load up at other positions. Leaving holes in their team and causing teams to exploit them. As a lifelong Eagles fan, they have been far from perfect. However, the one time they were borderline perfect was the 2017-2018 season. The Eagles drafted quarterback Carson Wentz a year prior to this. Leaving him on a rookie deal which was four years spanning 26 million dollars. This allowed general manager Howie Rosemen to build a team around his rookie quarterback. Signing free agents such as Alshon Jeffery, Lagarette Blount, Patrick Robinson, and perhaps the biggest was quarterback Nick Foles.

Carson Wentz played at an MVP level the entire season, until week 14 of the season he blew out his acl. This left backup quarterback Nick Foles on a measly 4 million dollar deal to take the reins. Long story short the Eagles win their first superbowl in franchise history. The year prior they made a huge mistake falling into the trap of overpaying for a quarterback. Quarterback Carson Wentz received a four year 128 million dollar extension, NBC sports writes. Wentz continued to get injured year after year and was never the same after the extension. 

In “The Curse of a Salary Cap Eating Quarterback,” Kevin Clark writes, “The two highest-paid players on the Eagles’ Super Bowl–winning team last year combined for 11.6 percent of the cap.” The Eagles cruised to victory, being able to pay their rookie quarterback little amount of money, and left all the rest for position players. Clark also mentions that, “The only team to win the Super Bowl while having its two highest-paid players make more than 21.6 percent of the salary cap is the 49ers in 1994 with Steve Young and Jerry Rice.” So only once has it occurred where over 21.6 percent of the cap going to two players wins a superbowl. Not to mention both are hall of farmers. 

A great example of a great team around a quarterback was the “Legion of Boom,” for the Seattle Seahawks from 2013-2017. The team consisted of a great young quarterback in Russel Wilson. Their core on defense consisted of hard hitting safety Kam Chancellor, safety Earl Thomas and shut down corner Richard Sherman. Matt Bowen wrote an article about the legion of boom mentioning, “The Seahawks play fast; close on the ball and they will tackle. Earl Thomas, Richard Sherman, Kam Chancellor, Byron Maxwell and Jeremy Lane: a group that loves to compete, challenge receivers and dictate the overall flow of the game.” Thomas was a first-round player, a top-15 pick out of Texas. But Sherman went in the fifth round. Chancellor, too. And both Maxwell and Lane were sixth-round picks. Seattle built a team around a rookie quarterback and capitalized in 2013 beating the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl 43-8. 

The Kansas City Chiefs in 2019 did something similar. Although they got very lucky with drafting Patrick Mahomes in the first round back in 2018. Kansas City capitalized on a young quarterback with potential. With a great defense throughout the playoffs Kansas City won the Superbowl against the San Francisco 49ers 31-20. Kevin Clark writes in “The Curse of a Salary Eating Quarterback,” “Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes II, this season’s presumptive MVP, is earning $3.7 million this year, making him the 400th-highest-paid player in the league. He gets about $800,000 less than Falcons backup Matt Schaub and is under contract until 2021.” Mahomes is perhaps most known for his famous half a billion dollar contract, but he didn’t make this money back in 2019, and the Chiefs capitalized. 

There is a pattern here. Build around the young quarterback. This not only benefits a team now, but also in the future. Being able to have players for your quarterback to throw to, and a championship caliber defense should be the main focal point of NFL teams. Now it’s easier said than done, but it is more effective than paying 50 million a year to one player. With great talent surrounding you, it’s hard to not perform. 

References 

/ by JP Finlay. “Wentz’s Contract Gives Eagles Worst QB Situation in NFC East.” RSN, 7 Dec. 2020, https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/football-team/carson-wentz-and-his-contract-gives-eagles-worst-qb-situation-nfc-east. 

Bowen, Matt. “What Makes Seattle’s Legion of Boom so Great?” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 3 Oct. 2017, https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2347078-what-makes-seattles-legion-of-boom-so-great. 

Clark, Kevin. “The Curse of a Salary-Cap-Eating Quarterback.” The Ringer, The Ringer, 2 Jan. 2019, https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2019/1/2/18164980/nfl-playoffs-quarterbacks-salary-cap-kirk-cousins-patrick-mahomes. 

Velayos, Diana. “NFL: Who Is the Highest Paid Quarterback?” AS.com, AS En, 25 Jan. 2022, https://en.as.com/en/2022/01/25/nfl/1643127826_663616.html.