The Luke Kuechly and Marcell Dareus extension trickle effect
By Robert Judin
Luke Kuechly and Marcell Dareus’ contracts have created a trickle effect down through the league.
Cash rules everything around me. No, I’m not talking about the Wu Tang Clan’s classic song. I’m simply telling it how it is. What other factor incentivizes and motivates like waking up and seeing more zeros in your bank account? There is nothing like it.
When it comes to the National Football League, nothing changes. Sure, every team, player and coach has the goal of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. Though not even a Super Bowl title can whitewash the money-hungry nature fueling the billion-dollar industry that is the NFL.
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In 2013, the Baltimore Ravens were enjoying their latest Super Bowl win against the San Francisco 49ers. Meanwhile the Seattle Seahawks were at home, contemplating how they were unable to get past the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round of the playoffs. A 30-28 loss killed their championship dreams — for about a year.
A 24-year-old Kam Chancellor saw the end of his contract nearing and had invested too much into what the Seahawks were building to just leave. He was No. 133 overall in the 2010 NFL Draft out of Virginia Tech, and the Seahawks started his career.
So, in April of 2013, Chancellor signed a four-year extension worth $28 million. Two years into that extension, he would realize how underpaid he was in comparison to the other top defensive players in the league.
Earl Thomas, whom Chancellor plays next to, signed a four-year extension a year after Chancellor did — for $12 million more. Now Chancellor is 27 and has established himself as a premier safety. To be fair, Chancellor’s in-the-box style is made possible by Thomas’ ability to play center field and cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. Still, Chancellor is flat-out feared when he’s on the field and is someone who forces offensive coordinators to alter their game plans.
With the lack of progress on a new contract, Chancellor has followed through on his word that he’d hold out. He was absent from training camp and was heavily missed in the Seahawks’ 34-31 loss to the St. Louis Rams in their first game.
Chancellor’s lack of a new contract may be correlated with the position he plays though. Marcell Dareus, though he was picked third overall in the 2011 NFL Draft, just received a whopping contract extension from the Buffalo Bills for six years and $108 million.
Luke Kuechly, the star middle linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, also signed a big contract recently worth $52 million for five years.
While the statistics for a defensive tackle will never be bright and shining, Dareus has racked up 28.5 sacks and only missed one game in four years. Kuechly, the No. 9 overall pick in the 2012 NFL Draft, started all 48 games in his first three years and was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013.
You can argue the fact the Seahawks have been forced to pay others in order to keep their core solidified. On top of Thomas’ deal, Seattle also had to cough up big dollars for Russell Wilson, Bobby Wagner, Marshawn Lynch and others. But still, the importance teams have put on the linebacker and defensive line positions has to be acknowledged.
There seems to be a general belief that defensive backs are much easier to find than linebackers and the big fellas down in the trenches. I don’t want to say defensive backs are a dime a dozen, but the difference in pay is hard to ignore.
The Denver Broncos gave T.J. Ward a four-year deal in 2014 worth $22.5 million. Morgan Burnett, the strong safety for the Green Bay Packers, signed a similar deal in 2013. Burnett got four years for $27.75 million.
But at the same time, free safeties make more than the strong safeties they play next to every Sunday. Eric Berry received a six-year deal worth $50 million. Eric Weddle got $40 million for five years. And the New Orleans Saints gave Jairus Byrd $54 million for six years.
Chancellor’s deal mirrored the deal the Miami Dolphins gave strong safety Reshad Jones, also a fifth-round pick in 2010: four years for $28 million. Doesn’t seem quite fair now, does it?
I’m not saying that the strong safeties in the league are going to rebel and start demanding more money. What I am saying is that Chancellor could be the one to spark a pay raise for them around the league.
Dareus’ deal fits in line with the what Ndamukong Suh received from the Dolphins (six years, $114 million) and what the Tampa Bay Buccaneers gave Gerald McCoy (six years, $95 million). And Kuechly’s deal fits with the six years and $52 million Brian Cushing received from the Houston Texans, as well as the five-year contract worth $48 million Lawrence Timmons got from the Pittsburgh Steelers.
It isn’t that those guys didn’t deserve their respective contracts, but with the high level the Seahawks’ defense has maintained over the past three years while shuffling through two defensive coordinators, the deals for Dareus and Kuechly might have come at a bad time — for Seattle. It might have come at a bad time for the rest of the league as well.
The Seahawks and Chancellor are reportedly less than $1 million apart in negotiations. Common sense tells us they’ll get the deal done soon. Seattle can’t afford to risk not having Chancellor on the field. But when he does get his money, look long and hard at the money tree the Seahawks will go to in order to pay left tackle Russell Okung, whose deal expires in 2016.
And when Chancellor does get his deal, pay close attention to the other safeties around the league — both free and strong. Burnett and Ward’s deals don’t expire until 2018, but San Francisco’s Eric Reid will be looking to cash in. Baltimore’s Will Hill, Cincinnati’s George Iloka, and Minnesota’s Harrison Smith will all be looking to get paid.
As much as those guys up front deserve the money they earned, it’s hard to tell the defensive backs they’re not worth as much. So, a trickle down effect will occur. All that cash teams have invested in the front sevens will trickle down to the pockets of the secondaries.
It’s just the nature of the business. Cash rules everything around the game.
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