Hey, remember the freak out over the contract the Raiders gave Davante Adams? That was fun, right. Everyone doing what they always do and latching onto the early max numbers his agent put out on a five-year deal, before the numbers that actually mattered came out. Good times.
What we discovered soon after the fake numbers that will never actually be reached were released, is that his supposed five-year, $140 million deal was actually more like a three-year, $65 million deal.
That’s the guaranteed money on the contract. After those three years, his base salary jumps to $35 million, which is never going to happen.
Guaranteed money is always the number to focus on. And, to be fair, at the time the Raiders acquired Adams in trade with the Packers and the All-Pro WR signed the deal, it was the most guaranteed money belonging to a wide receiver in the NFL. But that changed quickly.
Less than a week later, the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill to Miami, where Hills got himself a new blockbuster deal that came with $72.2 million in guarantees. And just like that, Adams was no longer the leading receiver in the guaranteed money clubhouse.
Today, Adam fell even farther down the list with the Bills handing Stefon Diggs a reported four-year, $104 million extension which includes $70 million in guaranteed money. Here’s what the guaranteed money list looks like now. Just three weeks after Adams signed his deal.
The most guaranteed money among WRs
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— PFF (@PFF) April 6, 2022
Being the highest-paid at any position never lasts long. But if you are an NFL team, it behooves you to be among the first in a given offseason to put the contract together because, as you can see, it usually leads to saving some coin. For instance, the Raiders are getting Adams for $21.8 million per season. While the two receivers to get deals since then will be making closer to $24 million per season.
Granted Adams is a couple of years older than Diggs and Hill, but do you think that would’ve stopped Adams’s agent from ensuring his client leapfrogged the other two to become the highest-paid at his position at the time of his signing? I can say with some confidence, it would not.