Bengals receiver A.J. Green supports the effort of Falcons receiver Julio Jones to get a new deal. Green won’t be needing the support of Jones or anyone else in an effort to do the same.
“I think the biggest thing for me, I’m always comfortable with stuff I’m doing – I signed a deal and I’m comfortable with the deal and I just live with it,” Green told the Cincinnati Enquirer. “After that’s up, we go back to the board. I don’t really get caught up in what’s the money like because I signed my deal and it was the highest paid at that point. It’s going to always go up. So you can’t keep up with that.”
Green was indeed the highest paid receiver at the time he signed his contract. Now, he’s not. Steelers receiver Antonio Brown has the top deal at $17 million per year, followed by Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins, Chiefs receiver Sammy Watkins, and Browns receiver Jarvis Landry.
Green currently makes $15 million per year, more than Jones’ average of $14.25 million. And Green has only two years left on his current contract, putting him in position to get a new deal sooner than Jones, who is signed through 2020.
None of that has landed on Green’s radar.
“For me, I just keep everything simple,” Green said. “I really don’t try to get into all that other stuff. At the end of the day I just want to play football. I got my contract. I’m set for life. Now I can just go out there and play.”
So it’s $10.55 million for 2018 and $11.976 million for 2019, and then either the franchise tag or a shot at free agency — unless the Bengals extend Green before his current deal runs out.