Quote from lovelystyle100 on March 11, 2024, 9:41 AM

Fortunes can be made in a contract year. It is especially the case when the NFL postseason validates or exceeds performance in the regular season. The Super Bowl is an opportunity to make a strong closing statement. Quarterback Joe Flacco is the poster boy for cashing in on playoff succe s. Ten years ago, he was able to parlay an amazing 2012 playoffs in which the Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII while he took MVP honors into a six-year, $120.6 million deal averaging $20.1 million per year that briefly made him the league's highest-paid player. Flacco pa sed for 1,140 yards and 11 touchdowns without an interception while having a 117.2 pa ser rating during four playoff games. He had been a slightly above average quarterback at best in the seasons prior to his stellar postseason, which was easily the best four-game stretch of his career.Here are several Super Bowl participants with expiring contracts who could reap the benefit financially when free agency begins in March 15 and a couple of Jim Thome Jersey players in line for lucrative contract extensions prior to the start of next season. KC DT #95 Jones has had the best season of any interior defensive lineman. That includes three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year Aaron Donald, even before he was sidelined for the last six regular-season games with an ankle injury. Jones tied a career high with 15.5 sacks. His 77 quarterback pre sures (combined sacks, quarterback hurries and quarterback hits) were the fifth most in the NFL and led interior defensive linemen, according to Pro Football Focus.Jones enters a contract year in 2023. He signed a four-year, $80 million deal (worth up to $84 million through incentives) with $60 million of guarantees in 2020 as a franchise player. It's going to be too cost prohibitive for the Chiefs to place a franchise tag on Jones in 2024 if he plays out his contract. His franchise tag number will be $33.6 million. Jones is hoping that the young defensive tackles (Dexter Lawrence, Jeffery Simmons and Quinnen Williams) heading into the final year of rookie contracts "blow the market out" this offseason. He knows he'll reap the benefit of the changing market conditions. There's a big gap between the three-year, $95 million deal averaging $31,666,667 per year Donald signed last June and the rest of the market. DeForest Buckner and Leonard Williams are the next highest-paid interior defensive linemen at $21 million per year. Donald's deal averages nearly 51% more. Expect this gap to be closed during the upcoming offseason with Jones having the best chance of eclipsing Donald. CIN OT #75 Brown rejected a reported six-year, $139 million deal with a $30.25 million signing bonus at the July 15 deadline for franchise players to sign long term. Instead, Brown played under a $16.662 million franchise tag.The deal was backloaded and too long for a 26-year-old, Pro Bowl-caliber left tackle to accept. Cosmetically, Brown would have become the NFL's highest-paid offensive lineman at $23,166,667 per year because of a highly inflated last year of the contract. The deal was really $95 million for five years since there was a $44 million salary in 2027 that Brown would never see. Brown probably hasn't done anything this season to di suade the Chiefs from designating him as a franchise player again at $19,994,440, which is a 20% raise over his first tag as mandated by the NFL's collective bargaining agreement. NE WR #7 TAR101REC78REC YDs933REC TD3FL2 Tepid free agency interest after an injury plagued 2021 season prompted Smith-Schuster to sign a one-year, $3.25 million contract with the Chiefs worth up to $10.75 million through incentives. The Chiefs subsequently modified his contract so he could earn an additional $510,000 because his $510,000 of per game roster bonuses ($30,000 for each game active) were increased to $1.02 million ($60,000 for each game active).Smith-Schuster had a bounce-back year with the Chiefs. He caught 78 pa ses for 933 yards with three touchdowns in 16 games. Smith-Schuster should be the cream of a weak free agent crop of wide receivers. He was reportedly looking for Yan Gomes Jersey more than $15 million per year during his first time on the open market in 2021, which led to him returning to the Steelers on a one-year "prove it" deal worth $8 million.The Chiefs will likely have to pay Smith-Schuster more than the maximum value of fellow wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling's deal to keep him in the fold. Smith-Schuster has been more productive than Valdes-Scantling this season. Valdes-Scantling signed a three-year, $30 million deal averaging $10 million per year with $15 million of guarantees in last year's free agency. Incentives make the maximum value of $36 million ($12 million per year). KC P #5 Townsend, a 2020 undrafted free agent, will be a restricted free agent. The Chiefs have to decide whether to give Townsend the lowest tender for $2.627 million or the second-round tender for $4.304 million. The lower tender only provides the Chiefs the right to match an offer sheet from another team. A second-round pick is the compensation for an unmatched offer sheet with the higher tender.Townsend earned Pro Bowl and first team All-Pro honors this season. He had an NFL-best 45.6 yard net punting average. The most recent relevant data point in the punter market is the four-year extension averaging $3,491,250 million per year Jack Fox signed with the Lions during the middle of the season. The deal made Fox the NFL's second highest-paid punter. PHI QB #1 CMP%66.5YDs3701TD22INT6YD/Att8.05 Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie told ESPN's Sal Paolantonio at Super Bowl LVII Opening Night on Monday that Hurts has "nothing to prove" to be viewed as the long-term solution at quarterback. Hurts enters the final year (2023) of his four-year rookie contract. Hurts was named to his first Pro Bowl and a second team All-Pro. He is a finalist for the A sociated Pre s 2022 NFL MVP. Hurts completed 66.5% of his pa ses for 3,701 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions to post a 101.6 pa ser rating, which was the fourth best in the NFL. He added 760 yards on the ground, which was fourth in the NFL among quarterbacks. His 13 rushing touchdowns were tied for league's second most.Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray's $46.1 million per year should be Hurts' reasonable worst-case scenario with a new contract. Murray, the first overall pick in the 2019 draft, signed a five-year, $230.5 million extension worth up to $238 million through salary escalators last July when training camp started. There's $160 million in overall guarantees where $103.3 million was fully guaranteed at signing. An additional $29.5 million in latter years of Murray's contract, which isn't guaranteed for injury at signing, can Mike Clevinger Jersey also become completely secure to bring the total amount that can be guaranteed to $189.5 million.An Eagles' Super Bowl win, especially as the game's MVP, could give Hurts the ammunition to become the NFL's highest-paid player. Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers currently has that distinction at $50,271,667 per year. He became the NFL's first $50 million per year player last March with a contract widely considered to be $150.815 million over three years although there are two additional below market years (2025 and 2026) in the deal. He established new benchmarks for guaranteed money in football contracts with $150.665 million in total guarantees and $101.515 million fully guaranteed at signing. That was until the Browns gave quarterback Deshaun Watson a fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract averaging $46 million per year in connection with his trade from the Texans. SF DT #98 Hargrave moved the needle for interior defensive linemen who weren't known as pa s rushers when he joined the Eagles in 2020 free agency on a three-year, $39 million contract with $30 million of guarantees. His ability to rush the pa ser has improved in Philadelphia. Hargrave had a career-high 11 sacks this season, which was fourth in the NFL among interior defensive linemen. Two-time Pro Bowler Grady Jarrett signed a three-year, $49.5 million extension averaging $16.5 million per year with the Falcons containing $34.5 million fully guaranteed Cleveland Guardians Jersey last offseason. Hargrave should be able to command more than Jarrett on the open market. CAR RB #6 Att259Yds1269TD11FL2 Sanders earned Pro Bowl honors for the first time this season. He had career highs of 1,269 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns, which were fifth and eighth in the NFL, respectively.There are eight running backs in the NFL with contracts averaging $12 million per year or more. All of the deals were for the players to remain with their own teams. The running back market with veteran contracts then takes a sharp downward turn with James Conner (Cardinals) and Leonard Fournette (Buccaneers) rounding out the top 10 with deals averaging $7 million per year. Sanders will be looking to be in or as close to the former than the latter. PHI CB #24 Bradberry joined the Eagles to help form arguably the NFL's best cornerback tandem with Darius Slay after the Giants made him a salary cap casualty last May. He's made the most of signing a one-year, $7.25 million contract (worth a maximum of $10 million through incentives).Opposing quarterbacks completed 46% of pa ses (40-of-87 attempts) when targeting Bradberry for a 54.2 pa ser rating, according to PFF. His 17 pa ses defended were the NFL's third most this season. Bradberry is open to returning to the Eagles. It's hard to imagine Philadelphia paying Bradberry more than the three-year extension averaging $16,683,333 per year Slay signed in connection with his trade from the Lions in 2020. Bradberry's best bet to find that type of money is probably somewhere else. DET FS #2 The Saints dealt Gardner-Johnson to the Eagles late Erik Gonzalez Jersey in the preseason after reaching an impa se in negotiations for a contract extension. Saints were reportedly offering $8 million per year while Gardner-Johnson was seeking $12 million per year.Gardner-Johnson thrived in a traditional safety role with the Eagles after spending a majority of his time as a slot cornerback with the Saints. He was the NFL's co-leader with six interceptions despite mi sing five games with a lacerated kidney. Gardner-Johnson may have adjusted his salary expectations upwards after demonstrating his versatility this season. CHI MLB #53 Edwards signed a one-year extension for $2.15 million with an additional $1.05 million in incentives during the middle of the 2021 season when he was headed toward restricted free agency. There was plenty of speculation that Edwards would be a backup after the Eagles selected 2021 Butkus Award winner Nakobe Dean in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft. Edwards had a career-high 159 tackles (tied for seventh most in the NFL) and 10 tackles for lo s this season as Philadelphia's every down linebacker. He was on the field for 94.1% of Philadelphia's defensive snaps. Edwards could be looking at a multi-year contract that averages five times as much as the base value of his extension. PIT OG #73 Seumalo played every regular season game for the first time since 2019 after injuries limited him to just nine games over the last two seasons. Philadelphia's offense didn't mi s a beat with Seumalo shifting to right guard to take over for Brandon Brooks, who retired after the 2021 season. As arguably the top offensive guard slated to hit the open market, Seumalo would be justified in looking for the type of money Laken Tomlinson received in free agency last year. The Jets signed Tomlinson to a three-year, $40 million contract (worth up to $41.2 million through incentives) with $26.6 million in guarantees, of which $24 million was fully guaranteed at signing.