Imagine a world where your favorite NFL team gets things done as efficiently and, arguably more importantly, as quietly as possible. In this world you may even be the reigning Super Bowl Champions. You may have cooled off on celebrating after a month and a half and decided that more work needed to be done. The efficient kind. The quiet kind.
The Seattle Seahawks are that team.
Seattle just made the George Pickens deal more complicated
Let’s get this out of the way: George Pickens is not Jaxon Smith-Njigba. George Pickens is very good, though. George Pickens is arguably
worthy of being paid near the top of the market at his position.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba, and the Seattle Seahawks, just reset that on Monday morning. The former Rockwall standout and the reigning Super Bowl Champions agreed to terms on a four-year, $168.M extension with $120M guaranteed. The APY for JSN is $42.15M. OMG.
Taking a look at the new market, courtesy of Spotrac, JSN is the first player to top Ja’Marr Chase who was the initial wide receiver to break the $40M per year club. Remember when we made a big deal about receivers hitting the $30M mark? There are now 10 there, all in this image, with Brandon Aiyuk being at the bottom and seemingly an afterthought for the San Francisco 49ers. It is worth noting that George Pickens is currently below the $30M per year mark on the franchise tag.
One would assume that conversations with George Pickens have to start around the $40M per year mark, right? If we compare the situation (nothing is ever apples to apples) to CeeDee Lamb two years ago, Lamb never reset the market. Justin Jefferson reset it earlier in that offseason (while we were screaming for the Cowboys to get something done so that very thing didn’t happen) and Lamb slotted in just south which felt fair.
Is history repeating itself here? JSN is certainly among the best receivers in the NFL, has the Super Bowl win wind working at his back, and this is his first offseason of eligibility. As we often say getting to the player at that first window is advantageous and the Seahawks clearly recognize that.
For what it’s worth, JSN is not the only top-tier wideout expected to cash in this offseason. Puka Nacua is also eligible for a new deal and certainly could come in north of JSN. This again corroborates the idea that Pickens may be slightly south of JSN, but it feels practical to say that $40M per year is where the conversation starts.
What do you think?
