The Falcons aren’t the only ones who would like to extend their franchise quarterback before other quarterbacks cash in. Appearing on PFT Live, new Packers G.M. Brian Gutekunst addressed the team’s preferred timeline for doing what would be the fourth career contract signed by quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
“We’d like to do it sooner rather than later,” Gutekunst said. “When you’ve got the best player in the sport you’d like to lock him up.”
Asked whether he’d like to extend Rodgers before Kirk Cousins and Drew Brees sign their next deals, Gutekunst laughed and said, “That would be nice.”
Rodgers is due to make $20.9 million in 2018 and $21.1 million in 2019, an average of $21 million over the next two years. The question becomes whether he’ll be looking to surpass the top of the market in new money analysis or in total value from signing.
It’s a key distinction in the assessment of contracts. If, for example, Rodgers signs a five-year, $150 million contract to replace the final two years of his current deal, that contract would have a new-money average of $36 million. And if the deal has a new money average of $30 million (via a three-year, $90 million extension), the contract would have a total value at signing of only $26.4 million.
Keep that in mind when the time comes to assess the quality of the Rodgers extension. He could end up being the highest paid player in terms of new money, but not the highest paid when it comes to examining the deal from the moment it’s signed.
He deserves, frankly, to be both.