5 NFL players who will earn big money in contract years

No player on this list will see a great spike in salary than Los Angeles Chargers defensive back Desmond King. Is he a cornerback? Is he a safety? Does it really matter, honestly? The answer is he’s a tremendous player in the secondary and one many teams would love to have. As for if the Chargers can keep him, that remains to be seen.

Los Angeles hit a home run when the Chargers drafted the Jim Thorpe Award winner out of the University of Iowa in 2017. King has been an All-Pro for the Bolts, starring as a complementary defensive back to Casey Hayward Jr. in Los Angeles. Though general manager Tom Telesco will want to keep him, keep in mind the Bolts just signed Chris Harris Jr. to a contract.

So the Chargers have Harris, Hayward, King and safety Derwin James in their defensive backfield. James was a former first-round pick out of Florida State, while Harris and Hayward are perennial Pro Bowlers well past their rookie contracts. Do you think King will average $669K in annual salary beyond 2020? No, the dude is getting paid!

Gus Bradley’s Chargers defense is absolutely loaded. It looks like King will be the next player from that unit to be paid handsomely. Could he be a franchise tag candidate? Potentially, but he’s not worth being paid the average of the top-five annual salaries at his position group for 2021. King is a prime candidate to make bank elsewhere on his second contract. Where will that be, though?