The top player for the Eagles has five contracts with different clubs.

The top player for the Eagles has five contracts with different clubs.

He and the Philadelphia Eagles reached an agreement on a five-year, $255 million contract extension that includes a $179.304 million guarantee, as reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN.

He surpasses players like Aaron Rodgers ($50.3 million), Russell Wilson ($49 million), Kyler Murray ($46.1 million), Deshaun Watson ($46 million), and Patrick Mahomes ($45 million) with an average yearly value of $51 million, the highest in league history.

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Eagles and quarterback Hurts reach a $255 million agreement.
It’s disorienting to consider how swiftly things changed: Hurts was selected in the second round of the 2020 NFL draft to serve as Carson Wentz’s backup. Following Wentz’s trade to the Indianapolis Colts, Hurts assumed the starting role full-time in 2021. Hurts had a mixed season, leading the Eagles to a 9-7 record and a postseason bid despite finishing 26th in completion percentage (61.3) and totaling 26 touchdowns (16 passing, 10 rushing) to nine interceptions. However, he made significant progress this past season, leading to an MVP-caliber campaign and a Super Bowl appearance.

The four years and $129 million that the team offered Wentz in 2019 are almost twice as much as the total value of his new contract. The team had no qualms about handing Hurts a huge salary, even agreeing to include the first no-trade clause in Philadelphia’s history, despite how poorly things worked out with that one.

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General manager Howie Roseman stated in February, “You’ve got to look at the individual player, and that’s not to be critical to anyone we’ve given a contract to that hasn’t worked out.” “But I think when we talk about Jalen, we’re talking about a guy we have tremendous confidence in, a guy that we want to be here for a long time.”

The following are the primary figures that shed light on the Eagles’ decision and the long-term effects of the deal for the team:

(Image courtesy of Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The NFL salary cap for 2023 is $224.8 million, which is almost $17 million more than it was in 2018.

Again, player salaries will be rising, and quarterback salaries will be especially high. When Josh Allen of the Buffalo Bills and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys received extensions in 2021, the going rate for elite quarterbacks was approximately $40 million annually. Since then, it has risen to roughly $50 million per season.

Hurts is at the peak of his career, but that won’t last for long because quarterbacks Lamar Jackson of the Baltimore Ravens, Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers, and Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals are all eligible for new contracts. Even though it would have been alluring to let Hurts finish out the last year of his rookie contract, which called for a base salary of $4.2 million, the Eagles will ultimately save money by signing an extension before the other quarterbacks do.

The NFL Network estimates that Hurts will earn $64 million through the 2024 campaign, which includes a $23 million signing bonus.

That suggests that the cap numbers, especially in the first few years, will be reasonable, enabling Philadelphia to retain talent around its franchise quarterback.

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It’s important to surround him with talented players and discover something that both he and we feel strongly about. Roseman stated as much during the February scouting combine. “He knows that.” “That doesn’t mean that it’s not going to be a tremendous contract for him, because he deserves that, too.”

The core group of playmakers will be in place for the foreseeable future because tight end Dallas Goedert, receivers A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, and tight end DeVonta Smith are all signed through at least 2024.

Still, a team’s roster-building needs are changed when they sign a quarterback to a megadeal. Going forward, the Eagles probably intend to rely more heavily on draft picks to bolster their roster. In the 2023 draft, they will have six picks total, including two first-round selections.