NFL busine s typically comes to a grinding halt when mandatory minicamps end in the middle of June. Things start picking back up the week following the Fourth of July. A couple of rookie deals were completed and a few suspensions were announced during this year's lull. Most notably, 2018 fifth-overall pick signed a fully guaranteed four-year contract for slightly under $27.3 million.Here's a look at some key unfinished offseason financial matters, some of which should be completed prior to most training
Jake Bailey Jersey camps opening later this month. ' contract extensionThe expectation was the and Rodgers would quickly reach an agreement on a new deal after quarterback became the 's first $30 million-per-year player in early May. Ryan's five-year contract extension, which includes NFL records of $100 million in overall guarantees and $94.5 million fully guaranteed at signing, set a salary floor for Rodgers. A new contract doesn't appear to be imminent, although Packers president Mark Murphy is hopeful about signing the two-time NFL MVP to an extension soon. More on the NFL Rodgers, whose contract with runs through the 2019 season, is reportedly seeking a clause allowing him to opt out of the deal at some point. Clauses giving the players the latitude to void remaining contract years at their discretion are a rarity in the NFL. The Packers have little incentive to give Rodgers the opt-out clause. Realistically, Green Bay can control his rights over the next four seasons by paying him slightly more than $107 million, where he plays out his contract and is designated as a franchise player twice. Rodgers wouldn't get his first chance to potentially hit the open market until 2022 as a 38 year old. A conventional deal (without an opt-out clause) would probably be in the $32 to $33 million-per-year neighborhood. Whether Rodgers would eclipse Ryan's guarantees marks would be debatable considering Packers contracts typically have a vanilla structure. The guarantees are usually le s than comparable deals on other teams but an exception has been routinely made for Rodgers. The franchise player negotiating
Troy Brown Jersey deadline wide receiver is the only one of the five players designated as a franchise player to sign a long-term deal. Cleveland gave Landry a five-year, $75.5 million deal with $47 million in guarantees. The other four players with franchise tags ( defensive end Ziggy Ansah, running back , safety and defensive end ) have until 4 p.m. ET on July 16 to sign multi-year contracts. They must wait until the 2018 regular season ends to sign long-term once the deadline pa ses. All but Bell, whose franchise tag is for $14.544 million, have already signed their respective one-year tenders. Joyner's is $11.287 million. As defensive ends, Ansah and Lawrence get one-year salaries of $17.143 million each.Lawrence has a great attitude about being franchised. He views playing on the tag as an opportunity to break the bank in 2019 if a long-term deal isn't reached. The Cowboys and his representatives are reportedly meeting sometime this week to discu s a deal. Negotiations probably won't get too far if the Cowboys aren't willing to offer Lawrence more than the $17 million per year that
Jim Plunkett Jersey defensive end received from the as an unrestricted free agent in 2016. Vernon's five-year deal contains $52.5 million in overall guarantees, of which $40 million was fully guaranteed at signing. This contract is particularly relevant because Vernon and Lawrence have the same agent. Bell has been surprisingly optimistic about a new deal given that he reportedly wants $17 million per year, like wide receiver got from the Steelers in an extension last year. An agreement seems unlikely unle s Bell softens his financial demands. Bell didn't sign his franchise tender until right around Labor Day last year. Expect a similar timetable with Bell again if he's playing another year on a franchise tag.Offsets in first-round contractsJust three of the first 10 picks of the 2018 are signed even though there are very few negotiable items with rookie deals due to the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement implementing a rookie wage scale. Chubb, the ' edge rusher, is the only top-five pick under contract.The primary sticking point is whether the guarantees will have offsets. An offset clause allows a team to reduce the guaranteed money owed to a player when he is released by the amount of his new deal with another team. The player receives his salary from the team that released him in addition to the full salary from his new contract with another club when there isn't an offset (also known as "double dipping"). An offset should only come into play in the latter years of a rookie deal if the player hasn't lived up to expectations. Nearly every team requires offsets with salary guarantees in draft-pick contracts. It's been that way since 2013, when teams took a stand with
Matthew Judon Jersey the top selections. A ma sive reversal five years later seems remote. As a compromise, a lot of teams structure deals containing minimum base salaries in the final three years with the remainder of a player's salary in annual fully guaranteed third- or fifth-day-of-training-camp roster bonuses. Quarterbacks have the best chance of extracting a conce sion on offsets than players at other positions. , the second-overall pick in 2017, signed a deal with the where his 2017 base salary and training camp roster bonuses in 2018 through 2020, which contain most of the money in the last three years of his contract, don't have
Julian Edelman Jersey offsets. , the second-overall pick in 2015, received similar treatment from the . The nature of the rookie wage scale has practically eliminated rookie holdouts. This didn't prevent the and 2016 third-overall pick from engaging in a contract dispute in which he mi sed 31 days of training camp before signing. Bosa's guarantees have offsets but he got a better payment schedule with his signing bonus than the Chargers typically give to players with substantial upfront money. It remains to be seen whether any of the top picks (or more importantly their agents) feel as strongly about offset language as Bosa's camp did. Resetting the non-QB marketIt's been a foregone conclusion that Rams interior defensive lineman and edge rusher , who are scheduled to make $6.892 million and $13.846 million respectively this year on their fifth-year options, would eventually become charter members of the $20 million-per-year non-quarterback club. Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie's timetable for a Mack extension has been the 2018 offseason ever since locking up quarterback long-term last summer. Les Snead, McKenzie's counterpart with the Rams, has called a new deal for Donald a major priority. The Raiders and Rams having sticker shock is the likely impediment with deals for the 2014 first-round picks. A modest increase over the current non-quarterback standard, which is Broncos linebacker at $19,083
