The Minnesota Vikings didn’t screw Justin Jefferson in his new contract extension, but they also didn’t give him the red carpet rollout that many NFL pundits are claiming he signed on Monday morning. He stands to make less than what Tyreek Hill would have made had his deal with the Miami Dolphins come in 2024.
The Minnesota Vikings extended Justin Jefferson
After a long period of negotiations, trade reports, and rumors, Jefferson will stay in Minnesota for a lot of money. As previously discussed on GH, Jefferson signed a deal that will net him $35 million:
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, the Minnesota Vikings and Justin Jefferson have agreed to a historic contract extension. He will receive $140 million over four years. Of that $140 million, $110 million is guaranteed.
With this contract, Jefferson will be the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL annually. His $35 million annual salary tops A.J. Brown at the wide receiver position.
As noted, the contract does make Jefferson the “highest-pad non-quarterback” in the league. However, one must consider that Jefferson’s deal came in an offseason where the salary cap jumped 13.8 percent. The salary cap has dramatically increased since the start of the 2023 offseason.
Tyreek Hill is valued closer to $37 million per year
In the 2022 offseason, Hill signed a deal that would pay him $30 million annually. As previously discussed on GH, when Michael Gehlken of the Dallas Morning News was writing about CeeDee Lamb’s situation with the Dallas Cowboys, Hill’s extension from 2022 is worth $36.8 million in 2024 salary cap numbers:
Lamb is set to play on his fifth-year option. He is set to make nearly $18 million for the upcoming season. Per Gehlken, Lamb’s value should be almost $12 million more than that and could be the reason for any potential holdout:
“[Lamb’s] projected value is north of the record $30 million per year Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill earns. Hill signed that contract in 2022. The league’s salary cap has since increased 22.7%.
For context, a $25 million player in 2022 would consume the same percentage of his team’s non-adjusted cap as a $30.7 million player would in 2024. Likewise, the cap-share equivalent of Hill’s $30 million average in 2022 is $36.8 million today.
Jefferson did get more guaranteed money
The discrepancy between 2022 pay and 2024 is why Hill’s agent is negotiating with the Dolphins for a new extension this offseason.
The Vikings did give Jefferson more guaranteed money (and proportionally more in today’s dollars) than Hill received. However, Jefferson stands to make about $1.8 million less than what Hill was valued at in 2022. The contract Jefferson signed is impressive on the surface, but it is telling the Vikings didn’t match what the Dolphins gave Hill.
Hill is seen as more valuable than Jefferson. What will Ja’Marr Chase’s agent do with this new information?
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