If the first few months of the NFL offseason are about player acquisition, the period between free agency and the start of training camp is extension season.
In the past few weeks, we’ve seen stars such as Drake London and Jack Campbell sign significant extensions. Earlier this offseason, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Trent McDuffie became the highest-paid players in football at their respective positions when they signed extensions with their teams. And on Wednesday, Patrick Mahomes signed the largest contract in NFL history, with the future Hall of Famer becoming the first player to ink a deal worth more than half a billion dollars.
Who’s next to break the bank at each position? Today, I’m going spot by spot through the positional spectrum on offense and defense -- from the most expensive position in football (quarterback) to the least (tight end) -- and breaking down the top of the market. I’ll also identify who is most likely to become the highest-paid player in the league at each position when they sign their next deal. In some cases, that’s an obvious call. In others, it might be a product of a waiting game or require a sudden leap of faith.
I’ll be using adjusted average value, or AAV, as the judge of the contracts atop each market. This isn’t a perfect measure for a few reasons, which I’ll touch on throughout this piece. Full guarantees at signing can be helpful, but some contracts are structured in such a way that money that might not seem guaranteed at signing might as well be in reality. New money can be valuable in looking at extensions, but if most of that money isn’t guaranteed, it’s not really meaningful. I use the amount of cash each player earns over the first three years after signing a contract as the best judge of what a player is likeliest to take home, but if you ask players or agents around the league what defines the top of the market, it’s the largest AAV. So we’ll work with that here.
Let’s start at quarterback, which exists in a financial tier of its own.
Quarterback
Top of the market: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs ($63.4 million AAV)
The quarterback market is always going to be where the vast majority of NFL attention -- and dollars -- are focused. The 10 highest-paid players in football are all quarterbacks. When Daniel Jones signed his two-year, $88 million deal with the Colts this offseason, he procured a larger average annual salary than all but two non-QBs. Few people would say he is a better player in a vacuum than Justin Jefferson or Myles Garrett, but teams that otherwise don’t have a path to a viable quarterback are always going to pay over the odds to make sure they have one.
And while the quarterback market was seemingly setting new highs on an annual basis earlier this decade, there’s a clear threshold that other teams haven’t been willing to match. After the Cowboys bungled negotiations with Dak Prescott for his first extension and were forced to give their starting signal-caller an incredibly player-friendly deal, the second set of negotiations were even dicier for Jerry Jones & Co.
The Cowboys gave Prescott $60 million per season with no-tag and no-trade clauses. And for the past couple of years, that was that. Josh Allen landed what might arguably be a richer contract with his six-year, $330 million deal with the Bills, given that Buffalo ripped up the final four years of his existing deal and started his new extension from scratch. I thought Brock Purdy might be the one to top Prescott, but his extension with the 49ers landed at $53 million per season. C.J. Stroud, who looked set to become the highest-paid passer, hasn’t been able to find common ground with the Texans after the ugly ending to his 2025 season.
Then the Chiefs decided to get their inevitable extension done with Mahomes. Back in 2020, I posited that the Mahomes deal would get done before the start of the 2026 league year. That ended up being a few months off. As it currently stands with his new extension tacked on, he is set to make $504.8 million over the next eight years -- or an average of just over $63 million per season.
The first four years of that deal are reportedly fully guaranteed. While most NFL contracts are partially guaranteed, we can expect that Mahomes’ contract will have more money “practically” guaranteed, with the following season’s money guaranteeing 12 months in advance. That would force the Chiefs to either keep Mahomes each season knowing that they’ll pay him the following year or cut him only to pay him significant money to play somewhere else.
We’ve seen teams willing to do that in recent years to prevent future guarantees from triggering, with Russell Wilson, Kyler Murray and Tua Tagovailoa as recent examples. But, well, Mahomes is a different caliber of quarterback.
Next up: Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens
It seems bizarre in hindsight that there was any sort of conflict between the Ravens and their starting quarterback at the end of his rookie deal. With Jackson wanting a fully guaranteed deal, the Ravens eventually used the franchise tag to whittle away his leverage in the short term while running the risk of losing him for nothing in the long term. Jackson eventually conceded and signed a five-year, $260 million deal with $185 million in practical guarantees.
Since then, Jackson has won his second MVP award and come close to winning a third. Outside of a brief stretch in 2025 when injuries clearly impacted the future Hall of Famer’s play, Jackson has taken his game as a passer to another level. The average Jackson dropback as a passer over that span has generated 0.11 EPA, which is the fifth-best mark in the NFL. That’s without even considering the 2,085 yards and 11 touchdowns Jackson has added as a runner. Outside of a trip to the Super Bowl, Jackson has done everything the Ravens could have asked for after signing this contract.
With no guaranteed money remaining on his deal after this season, Jackson is unsurprisingly looking for a new contract this year. The Ravens probably would have preferred to get that deal done at the beginning of the league year for cap purposes, but with an $84.3 million cap hit coming for Jackson in 2027, they’ll either need to sign their quarterback to a new deal or restructure his contract for cap purposes. Jackson also has a no-franchise-tag clause after the 2027 season concludes, preventing the Ravens from going that route again once the star quarterback’s deal expires.
Jackson doesn’t have quite as much leverage as Prescott did with his deal, but Jackson is one year away from getting much closer to that point. The same Prescott deal, adjusted for the cap inflation over the past two years, would pay Jackson more than $71 million per season. I would be surprised to see that sort of dramatic leap, but it would hardly be out of the question for Jackson to sign a deal worth $65 million per year.
A four-year, $260 million deal would make Jackson the highest-paid player in NFL history while still leaving the veteran with the potential to get one more crack at another contract in his mid-30s. The Ravens would likely need to guarantee the $52 million Jackson is owed in 2027 and more than $100 million of the new money on the deal, with practical guarantees running into 2030 or 2031. And if Jackson does want to try to hold his ground for a fully guaranteed contract the second time around, well, he could point to what happened after the last negotiation as proof that he deserves that sort of deal.
Edge rusher
Top of the market: Will Anderson Jr., Houston Texans ($50 million AAV)
The edge rusher market has exploded over the past 16 months. After Nick Bosa signed a deal worth $34 million per season with the 49ers in September 2023, the top of the position stayed put through 2024 and into March 2025, while wide receivers such as Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase broke through to become the highest-paid non-quarterbacks in football.
Since March of last year, though, edge rushers have regained their title and pushed the top of the market dramatically forward. Maxx Crosby signed a three-year, $106.5 million deal, becoming the first edge rusher to top $35 million per season. Four days later, Myles Garrett bumped that to $40 million. In August, Micah Parsons marked his trade to the Packers by signing a four-year, $186 million pact, good for $46.5 million per season.
In April, Anderson became the first non-QB to break the $50 million barrier as part of his deal with the Texans. While just over $100 million of Anderson’s contract is guaranteed at signing, he was already on the books for $5.6 million in 2026 and $21.5 million in 2027 as part of his rookie deal, with the three-year extension kicking in afterward.
Anderson will take home a $32 million signing bonus as part of that contract, but he’s going to make $95.1 million over the next three years. That’s less than Parsons, who was already through the fourth year of his rookie deal by the time he was traded to the Packers. The former Cowboys standout will make $124 million over the first three years of his contract with Green Bay. I’d argue that the Parsons deal is more lucrative in reality, but because we’re conducting this exercise by AAV, Anderson’s contract is the benchmark.
That brings us to sort of a weird lull in the edge-rusher market. So many of the veteran superstars have signed extensions over the past 18 months, which should take them out of the running for the time being. Young stars such as Anderson and Aidan Hutchinson have already signed their deals.
There’s a clear dropoff between Anderson and the rest of the 2023 draft class, so while Byron Young and Tuli Tuipulotu are going to get paid, they won’t be pushing $50 million. The first 14 picks in the 2024 draft were offensive players, and no defensive player from that class has more than 12.5 sacks over his first two seasons, suggesting that Laiatu Latu and Jared Verse don’t project to land record-setting deals at the moment. And the 2025 class is years away from free agency and thin on the edge, where James Pearce Jr. was the only player with more than 5.5 sacks.
Next up: Danielle Hunter, Houston Texans
That brings us to a unique situation. Nick Bosa could very well be the next player to earn a massive contract, but he’s coming off a torn ACL and hasn’t come close to his Defensive Player of the Year performance in 2022 since signing his most recent contract. It would take another first-team All-Pro appearance in 2026 for the 49ers star to land a deal worth more than $50 million per year.
Hunter is unlike the other stars at his position. He has excelled since signing a two-year, $49 million deal with the Texans in free agency, and GM Nick Caserio signed Hunter to one-year extensions in 2025 ($35.6 million) and 2026 ($40.1 million) to add additional years to the star rusher’s contract. Hunter is set to make $32.5 million in 2026 and $30.7 million in 2027, but if he continues to play like a superstar, that 2027 figure will get adjusted.
Could Caserio sign Hunter to a one-year, $50.1 million extension next offseason? That seems reasonably plausible to me, but there’s not really a clear favorite atop the edge rusher market right now.
Wide receiver
Top of the market: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seattle Seahawks ($42.2 million AAV)
Wide receiver, in contrast, is much clearer. Ja’Marr Chase became the first wide receiver to top $40 million per year when he signed his deal with the Bengals in March 2025. Coming off a career year, it was no surprise that Smith-Njigba topped that figure 12 months later, when he signed a four-year, $168.6 million contract with the Seahawks. Playing on a team without another star pass catcher and with an inconsistent quarterback in Sam Darnold, Smith-Njigba racked up 1,793 receiving yards and won his first Offensive Player of the Year award.
Again, timing matters in evaluating contracts, which might make Chase’s deal more lucrative. Chase had already completed the fourth year of his rookie deal when he signed his second contract with the Bengals, which helped him earn $105 million over the first three years of that new deal in Cincinnati. Smith-Njigba signed his extension after his third season in Seattle, so while the star wideout got paid a year earlier, he’ll make $89.1 million over the first three years of what would otherwise be a slightly larger deal on paper.
Next up: Puka Nacua, Los Angeles Rams
Chase and Smith-Njigba were first-round picks, which grants their teams a fifth-year option at what is generally a team-friendly rate for wide receivers. As a former fifth-round pick, Nacua doesn’t have a fifth-year option, which gets him to free agency one year earlier than those first-rounders. After making just under $3 million across his first three seasons, Nacua has earned a modest raise through the league’s proven performance escalator program in 2026, but he will still be an absolute bargain on his $5.7 million salary.
Of course, it would be a surprise if Nacua played another game on his rookie deal. The Rams have a well-earned reputation for extending their young stars as soon as possible. And while a series of off-field incidents and a stint in rehab derailed any negotiation talks, it seems inevitable that the Rams will sign their best young offensive player to a record-setting contract before the start of the 2026 season, using the Smith-Njigba contract as a blueprint.
If the Rams do decide that they’re not ready to sign Nacua to an extension, the franchise tag would come into play after the 2026 season. Nacua would be in position to earn $31.6 million in 2027 and $38 million in 2028 on a second tag before potentially hitting free agency in advance of an unprecedented third tag in 2029. While that would be a small discount given that Nacua would earn more than $43 million on a new contract, the Rams would also be forced to account for the entirety of those salaries on their cap each year and would be prevented from using the franchise tag on another player, which would make negotiations with their young defensive linemen more difficult. It would also create friction between the organization and Nacua.
Defensive tackle
Top of the market: Chris Jones, Kansas City Chiefs ($31.8 million AAV)
In terms of financial tiers, quarterback is obviously atop the league’s positional pyramid by itself. Edge rusher and wide receiver are in the second tier. There’s a significant dropoff to the third tier, which starts at defensive tackle. While Jordan Davis just earned a second contract worth $26 million per season and Dexter Lawrence II had his contract topped off at $28 million after being traded to the Bengals, nobody has exceeded the five-year, $158.8 million deal that Jones signed with the Chiefs in 2024.
Jones’ contract might be an outlier for a couple of reasons. One is that he was simply worth more to the Chiefs than anybody else given his standout play in past postseasons, allowing him to command a premium others can’t match. The other is that Jones was about to enter unrestricted free agency for a Chiefs team that didn’t have the franchise tag available, having used that on cornerback L’Jarius Sneed. Most teams are locking up their best defensive tackles before free agency beckons.
Next up: Jalen Carter, Philadelphia Eagles
There are a few veteran candidates who might be in line for massive extensions this offseason. Tennessee’s Jeffery Simmons and Dallas’ Quinnen Williams are free agents after the 2027 season, leaving them with two years on their existing contracts. With the Cowboys having traded so much to acquire Williams, a new deal north of $30 million per year for the former Jets first-round pick seems inevitable.
I still expect the next record-setting contract to go to Carter, who might be the best young defensive tackle in football. Last season didn’t go as planned for Carter, who started the season with a bizarre ejection for spitting on Dak Prescott before missing five other games because of injuries, but he still managed to make his second consecutive Pro Bowl. And it takes only a trip back to the 2024 playoffs to recall how dominant Carter can be at his best, down to winning the game against the Rams with a pair of pressures on the final drive of the contest.
Howie Roseman is shifting Philadelphia’s spending from offense to defense over the next 12 months, and while anything’s possible in the modern NFL or with the trade-friendly general manager, it would be a surprise if Carter’s next deal wasn’t a record-setter. That would come from either the Eagles or another team, which presumably would have given up a first-round pick and more to land the Super Bowl winner. An extension for Carter would likely come in between $32 million and $35 million per season, and given how aggressive the Eagles are with signing young players to contracts, expect it to happen before the start of the 2026 campaign.
Cornerback
Top of the market: Trent McDuffie, Los Angeles Rams ($31 million AAV)
This position had stagnated in years past, but the top of the cornerback market has spiked in recent years. Since the start of the 2025 offseason, Jaycee Horn ($25 million), Derek Stingley Jr. ($30 million), Sauce Gardner ($30.1 million) and McDuffie have pushed the position forward. Pat Surtain II, in the middle of a four-year, $96 million extension, just picked up a $5 million raise in 2026 to help align his deal with those of the other stars at cornerback who signed after the Broncos standout.
McDuffie might not be the best cover cornerback of that bunch, but his versatility undoubtedly appealed to the Rams, who were previously spending less money on the defensive side of the ball than any other team. When the Rams traded a first-round pick to acquire the Chiefs star, they made it clear that a massive new contract was coming. McDuffie’s four-year, $124 million extension made him the highest-paid corner in the league.
Next up: Joey Porter Jr., Pittsburgh Steelers
There is no shortage of viable candidates here given that the 2023 draft delivered an excellent crop of cornerbacks, all of whom became eligible for extensions this spring. They’re collectively playing a waiting game with one another here, given that the first player to sign might set the market for the others to top.
Between Porter, Christian Gonzalez of the Patriots, DJ Turner II of the Bengals and Devon Witherspoon of the Seahawks, there are four corners who could credibly command market-setting deals from the 2023 class alone. Gonzalez and Witherspoon are represented by the same agency, which complicates their negotiations and makes it easier to play the waiting game. They’re also first-round picks, leaving them with fifth-year options in 2028.
As second-round picks, Porter and Turner are in the final years of their respective deals, which might make their situations more pressing. The Bengals aren’t exactly known for being prompt with negotiations, and after Pittsburgh signed linebacker Nick Herbig and tight end Darnell Washington to extensions in recent weeks, Porter and defensive tackle Keeanu Benton should be next up for the Steelers.
Laying in wait are Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean of the Eagles, who could be looking at something in the ballpark of $35 million per season when they become eligible for new deals next offseason.
Offensive tackle
Top of the market: Laremy Tunsil, Washington Commanders ($30.1 million AAV)
There’s a reason Tunsil is in the Bag Hall of Fame. Representing himself across multiple contracts, no player outside of perhaps Prescott has done a better job of leveraging overmatched and desperate teams into handing out player-friendly extensions than Tunsil. The five-time Pro Bowler has mostly held up his end of the bargain on the field, which obviously goes a long way.
Tunsil had one year and $21.3 million remaining on his existing deal when he signed this two-year, $60 million extension with the Commanders, making him the first offensive lineman to average more than $30 million per season on a multiyear pact. Before Tunsil, the largest deal for an offensive tackle belonged to Chargers star Rashawn Slater, who signed a four-year, $114 million extension last offseason.
Contracts at tackle lean heavily toward the left side of the line. Nine of the 11 largest active deals by annual salary were signed by left tackles. The 10th was inked by Penei Sewell, who will move to left tackle for the Lions this season. The other deal belongs to Lane Johnson, a college left tackle who has been among the league’s highest-paid tackles for nearly a decade now. At the moment, though, the best tackles on rookie contracts are playing right tackle, which complicates the top of the market a bit.
Next up: Joe Alt, Los Angeles Chargers
The best tackle from the class of 2023, which just became eligible for extensions this offseason, is Darnell Wright. The Bears right tackle had a career year in 2025, and with so many of Chicago’s playmakers on rookie deals, general manager Ryan Poles can afford to pay his right tackle top-of-the-market money. With Wright limited to right tackle, though, the Bears probably see that somewhere around $25 million per season.
Alt might have a few arguments for why he would be the exception to the right tackle rule. Like Lane Johnson, Alt is a former college left tackle and top-five pick who moved to the right side only because his team already had a standout option on the blindside. Alt was excellent as a rookie and showed that he could handle left tackle at the NFL level last season, starting six games there before his season was compromised by ankle issues.
It seemed telling that the Bears didn’t move Wright to the left side amid their issues there a year ago and don’t seem to plan on starting Wright at left tackle with Ozzy Trapilo out to begin 2026. Wright is a very good player and deserves to be paid, but Alt might be a different caliber of tackle and get paid accordingly.
Center
Top of the market: Tyler Linderbaum, Las Vegas Raiders ($27 million AAV)
Linderbaum’s deal is an enormous outlier. At $27 million per season, the new Raiders center represents a 50% leap on the prior record-holder, which was Creed Humphrey’s $18 million AAV on his four-year extension with the Chiefs. No other player is remotely close to what Linderbaum landed, which is a product of both his unique talent and the league’s franchise tag and fifth-year option rules lumping all linemen together. The Ravens weren’t able to justify paying Linderbaum like a tackle, but the competition of the open market led the Raiders to pay Linderbaum like one.
We’ll see how Linderbaum’s deal pans out in the years to come, but the massive raise creates a real conflict for teams with elite young centers. I don’t think anybody sees the true top of the center market around where Linderbaum landed, but young centers should (and will) ask for a Linderbaum-sized contract in the future, knowing that the free agent market proved they can earn that sort of deal if they get there.
Next up: Creed Humphrey, Kansas City Chiefs
The best center on a rookie deal at the moment is Graham Barton, who has been excellent for the Bucs since being drafted two years ago. Todd Bowles even moved Barton to left tackle briefly last season while Tristan Wirfs was injured, a testament to the Duke product’s athleticism. The only issue is that Barton was a first-round pick, and as a result, he’s subject to the same concerns about franchise tags and fifth-year options that Linderbaum was with the Ravens. Barton might prefer to play out the five years of his rookie deal and hit free agency as a 27-year-old in 2029.
He might theoretically be joined in that 2029 class by Humphrey and Linderbaum, both of whom will be free agents after the 2028 campaign. I would expect both players to be negotiating extensions in 2028, and between the two, most NFL observers believe Humphrey to be the better center. There are seemingly annual concerns about Humphrey snapping the ball too low on a regular basis, but his quickness and ability to block defensive tackles one-on-one make him an essential part of the Kansas City offense.
Barring a turnaround from Cam Jurgens in Philadelphia, I’d expect Humphrey to be the first center to approach $30 million per season on a new deal, with Linderbaum and Barton close behind.
Guard
Top of the market: Tyler Smith, Dallas Cowboys ($24 million AAV)
If we look at the positional spectrum by the top 10 at each spot as opposed to simply ranking them by the largest deals, guard would be ahead of center. With contracts surging in recent years as the money that previously went to running backs instead flowed to linemen, plenty of guards have gotten paid, albeit not as much as Linderbaum this past offseason.
While Linderbaum makes $3 million more per year than any guard, there are eight guards between Linderbaum at $27 million and Humphrey, the league’s second-highest-paid center, at $18 million. Eight centers make $10 million per year or more, a figure that 26 different guards can match or top on their existing contracts. Even acknowledging that teams employ twice as many guards as centers, that’s still a heavy lean toward ranking guards ahead of the center position, with Linderbaum as an outlier.
Two unrelated Smiths top the charts, as Trey Smith’s four-year, $94 million contract kept the Chiefs standout in Kansas City before Tyler Smith topped that with a four-year, $96 million extension. Landon Dickerson might have been able to top those figures with a big 2025. But after he struggled through an injury-hit campaign, his deal with the Eagles this season actually represented a slight pay cut in terms of average annual salary, dropping from $21 million on his former deal to $19.5 million on his new three-year pact.
Next up: Quenton Nelson, Indianapolis Colts
Two AFC South options loom for the first guard to hit $25 million per season. On the rookie contract side, there’s Peter Skoronski of the Titans, who has rounded into form after an inconsistent debut season. The Titans have struggled to develop linemen, but Skoronski has been the exception to that rule, emerging as a fine run blocker and a steady-enough option in pass protection. As a Titans success story, the organization should be eager to sign one of their best young players to a deal this offseason.
If the Titans don’t rush to pay Skoronski, though, Nelson should be able to beat his younger divisional opponent to the punch. Entering the final year of his four-year, $80 million extension, Nelson, 30, should be able to reset the guard market for a second time as a pro. The Colts are in a bit of a difficult cap situation after paying quarterback Daniel Jones and receiver Alec Pierce this offseason, but Nelson’s ability to overwhelm defenders at the point of attack and pull as part of a diverse run game makes him absolutely essential for Shane Steichen’s offense.
Nelson is one of 16 players to make the Pro Bowl in each of his first eight seasons. Every Hall of Fame-eligible player to accomplish that feat has already been enshrined in Canto, Ohio. Nelson will follow them one day. The Colts aren’t in position to let a player like him leave the building.
Safety
Top of the market: Derwin James Jr., Los Angeles Chargers ($25.2 million AAV)
This title just changed hands in recent weeks, as James’ extension with the Chargers topped the $25.1 million salary that Kyle Hamilton hit in his deal with the Ravens. After a rough stretch under Brandon Staley, James was revitalized as a playmaker around the line of scrimmage under Jesse Minter, who has since taken over as Hamilton’s coach in Baltimore.
Older safeties tend to struggle to earn significant guarantees, which made the deal for the 30-year-old James a bit of a surprise. There’s no guaranteed money for the former first-round pick after 2027, but James’ ability and recent play might make him the exception to the rules at safety. Vets such as Jessie Bates III and Antoine Winfield Jr. -- whose contracts expire after 2026 and 2027, respectively -- might not be in position to top $25 million per year on their third long-term deals. Brian Branch, who might have been in these discussions, could struggle to find common ground with Detroit as he recovers from a torn Achilles.
Next up: Nick Emmanwori, Seattle Seahawks
Cooper DeJean might qualify here if he moves from cornerback to safety on something amounting to a full-time basis in 2026. The Texans have a young standout in Calen Bullock, who will be eligible for an extension after the season alongside DeJean. And the Ravens could give Hamilton a $200,000 raise and make him the highest-paid safety without needing to make any significant changes to the Notre Dame product’s contract.
If there’s one young safety who really seems likely to budge the market forward, though, it’s Emmanwori. The second-round pick was absolutely essential for the Seahawks as they lived in their nickel defense, playing with five defensive backs on the field more often than any other defense in 2025. Emmanwori’s ability to fit the run and hold up in coverage made him the perfect hybrid defender for coach Mike Macdonald. He’s still two years away from even being eligible for an extension, but don’t be surprised if he is the next safety to break the bank as a cornerstone for the Seahawks.
Off-ball linebacker
Top of the market: Fred Warner, San Francisco 49ers ($21 million AAV)
Note that this doesn’t include edge rushers who play in a 3-4 and end up being called linebackers, such as T.J. Watt in Pittsburgh. If we’re looking at linebackers who aren’t asked to regularly rush the quarterback in passing situations, the clear player at the top of the market is Warner, who reset the position’s market in 2021 (signing for $19.7 million per year) and then again in 2025, when he hit $21 million per season on a three-year extension.
Of course, the fact that Warner managed to reset the market with a $1.3 million raise after four years tells us that there hasn’t been much appetite to pay other off-ball linebackers in that same range. Roquan Smith made it to $20 million per year on his deal with the Ravens, and Jack Campbell budged up to $20.3 million when he signed an extension with the Lions earlier this offseason. But young players Nick Bolton and Devin Lloyd have seen their deals land in the $14 million to $15 million range.
This is happening despite the fact that the same positional mismatch we see for centers and guards also takes place at linebacker. Edge rushers who rack up sacks while being listed at linebacker are lumped in with off-ball linebackers for the purposes of fifth-year options and the franchise tag, which should make it easier for those players to hit free agency. Despite that reality, though, players such as Lloyd haven’t been able to leverage the open market into market-resetting deals in the way that Linderbaum did at center. Campbell just chose to sign an extension as opposed to going year to year and testing free agency in 2028.
Next up: Roquan Smith, Baltimore Ravens
We’ve seen teams willing to pay top dollar to sign players they see as true difference-makers at off-ball linebacker, with Warner and Smith as the two most notable examples.
The Ravens traded second- and fifth-round picks to acquire Smith from the Bears in 2022, and after the four-time Pro Bowler excelled and elevated the game of fellow first-round pick Patrick Queen, the Ravens signed Smith to a contract worth $20 million per year during the offseason. Baltimore let Queen leave for Pittsburgh in free agency, and it has struggled to find the right player next to Smith, which might make it more likely that Smith signs an extension to get back on top of the market sometime before the start of the 2027 season.
Running back
Top of the market: Saquon Barkley, Philadelphia Eagles ($20.6 million AAV)
No market has been discussed more over the past few years, but there’s still a disconnect between how people perceive the running back market and modern football. That’s an entire story in its own right, one I’ve covered a few times in recent years, so let me focus on one essential concept: The running back market has righted itself in such a way that good backs are relative bargains these days.
While it’s true that Barkley has the largest average salary of any running back in history after his most recent extension with the Eagles, the running back market has either shrunk or grown much more gradually over the past 15 years than the league’s salary cap as a whole. Barkley signed his deal in 2025, when his average annual salary represented 6.8% of the cap.
If we look at the very top of the running back market in terms of percentage of the cap, the biggest multiyear deals for backs since 2011 are nearly double that figure. The largest contract signed by a running back over that timeframe as a percentage of the cap is Adrian Peterson’s six-year, $86.2 million extension, which the then-Vikings star inked in September 2011. That’s $14.4 million per season on a $120 million cap. Adjust that for the $303.5 million cap in 2026, and it’s the equivalent of a deal worth $36.1 million per season.
This isn’t an isolated deal. By percentage of the cap, the 12 largest multiyear contracts (three seasons or more) are all from 2020 or earlier. Barkley’s contract is roughly in line with what Aaron Jones Sr. signed for with the Packers in 2021. Jones was (and is) a good player, but he wasn’t the top of the running back market at the time, either by his contract or his on-field performance.
As wide receiver contracts continue to spike and players who aren’t truly elite wideouts see their compensation rise, playmakers at other positions on offense are going to be more appealing. Barkley will make about as much per season on his deal as Jaguars receiver Jakobi Meyers. It’s tough to believe that the two have equal impacts on opposing defenses. We’ll get to this with tight ends, as well, but the top of the running back market is likely undervalued relative to secondary wide receivers, even if the Peterson-sized contracts probably aren’t coming back anytime soon.
Next up: Bijan Robinson, Atlanta Falcons OR Jahmyr Gibbs, Detroit Lions
Like cornerback, this is another case of an offseason staring contest. Gibbs and Robinson have been impressive as pros and are coming off excellent seasons. Although they both had issues in pass protection a season ago (with Robinson’s issues being more significant and worrisome), they’re elite runners and very effective receivers out of the backfield. Neither should settle for anything short of becoming the highest-paid running back in football.
Of course, one player has to go first. If Robinson signs a four-year, $82 million deal with the Falcons, Gibbs will sign an $84 million deal a week later. The same holds true if Gibbs is the first to put pen to paper. We’re admittedly talking about a small amount on top of a life-changing amount of money, but there’s cachet that comes with being the highest-paid running back. Whoever signs first won’t have that title for very long.
Tight end
Top of the market: George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers ($19.1 million AAV)
We finish up with tight end, where more players doesn’t necessarily mean more money. We saw teams lean into multipersonnel groupings in 2025, playing 12 and even 13 personnel as fundamental parts of their offenses. Some of those reasons are schematic, as I laid out in my column on the Rams and their unexpected 13 personnel revolution earlier this offseason.
Another might be financial. Rookie contracts are position agnostic, but second contracts for playable wide receivers are almost invariably more expensive than deals for similarly talented tight ends. We saw blocking tight ends such as Charlie Kolar and Daniel Bellinger get unexpectedly large contracts this offseason, but even those deals landed in the range of $8 million per season. That’s a smaller average than the deals third wideouts such as Dontayvion Wicks ($12.5 million) or Jalen Nailor ($11.7 million) got with their new teams this spring.
If you have a quarterback on an expensive contract, spend a lot on your offensive line and even have a star wide receiver, one way to try to make the calculus work on the rest of your offense is by leaning in to those multitight end groupings. And even at the high end, elite tight ends such as Kittle and Trey McBride ($19 million per season) are making less than low-end No. 1 receivers or high-end No. 2 options such as Meyers.
Next up: Kyle Pitts Sr., Atlanta Falcons
There’s another two-man race here between Pitts and Brock Bowers, with the Raiders standout becoming eligible for an extension after the 2026 season. I expect Bowers to become the highest-paid tight end in NFL history the moment he signs his deal, but that might not happen until summer 2027.
Before then, Pitts might be able to briefly take over this record. After a knee injury seemed to slow Pitts following an impressive rookie season, the 2021 first-round pick showed signs of his former self in 2025. Pitts finished with 88 catches for 928 yards. While his 1.8 yards per route run ranked 10th among tight ends and much of his production took place while top wideout Drake London was injured, most NFL tight ends aren’t able to step in for their team’s top receiver and carry an offense.
Pitts isn’t much of a blocker, and I’m not sure I would want to make him the highest-paid tight end, but too many teams need move tight ends who can stretch the field. He’s also only 25 years old. The Falcons could tag Pitts a second time and pay him $18 million, but with a new regime in place, Atlanta might choose to move on from Pitts, especially with London signing a new deal and running back Bijan Robinson likely to join him shortly.
