Everyone in the Browns front office hated each other
February 13, 2014Cleveland not among top five fan bases in any major sport
February 13, 2014The Browns want to lock up one of the best corners in the game. The question, as always: How much will it take?
How much money will Joe Haden make with a new Cleveland Browns contract extension? The easy, lazy, and most obvious answer: a lot. Joe Haden, when it’s all said and done, is going to make a ton of cash. That doesn’t really answer the question though. This is the NFL and contracts are confusing to say the least. Haden is a top-tier talent that’s still coming into his own and he’s only going to be 25 years old when the upcoming NFL season begins. How can you even begin to figure out what he’s worth? I’m not sure just yet, but let’s look at some examples.
The first place anyone will want to go when talking about Haden is Tampa Bay’s Darrelle Revis. Revis has been the gold standard NFL corner for years now. Haden hasn’t ever been regarded quite to the level of Revis at his best, but he’s also three years younger. Revis is also a guy who has been through holdouts and one major injury – an ACL tear in the 2012 season. Revis is so good that following his injury, he still found himself signing a 6-year $96 million deal, but it’s a weird one. The deal has basically no guaranteed money and Revis plays year-to-year for $13 million in base salary. It’s such a unique deal that it shouldn’t be relevant to the Joe Haden discussion.
Originally when I decided to discuss this topic, I wanted to talk about Paul Kruger’s deal with the Browns just in order to set a baseline of sorts for the Haden deal. Prior to Joe Banner being removed from his post atop the Cleveland Browns, I might have been able to use this deal to use as evidence of structure or style. But now, a largely irrelevant deal feels even less relevant. Kruger’s deal was five-years, $41 million with about $20 million guaranteed.
Getting more specific about the cornerback position, I think other than Revis, it’s reasonable to assume that Joe Haden will be in that range of highest paid corners in the entire NFL. That puts him in a position to get easily into the $10 million per year range, but the questions abound regarding the length of the deal and the overall value and most importantly the guaranteed portion.
Using Spotrac.com’s numbers, you start to get a picture. From an overall contract value standpoint, Revis sits on his own island – pun intended – with his $96 million value. After that, the Cowboys’ Brandon Carr, the Rams’ Cortland Finnegan, the Ravens’ Lardarius Webb and the Chiefs’ Brandon Flowers are all basically $50-million contract players. Regardless of specifics, you know Haden’s team of representatives is going to want to beat all those gaudy numbers in the press release. You have to assume that Haden is going to be five years or more, and easily over that $50 million mark, a well-earned mark compared to the $6 million he stands to make this coming season.
In summary, I don’t have a specific guess, but I think Joe Haden will eclipse the $10 million per year barrier. I think he could be in the $12 million per year range. He will, upon signing, be the highest paid player on the Browns, knocking fellow Pro Bowler Joe Thomas from the top of the spreadsheet. The only question is if he’ll also beat Thomas for the most guaranteed money as Thomas’ rich extension guaranteed him $28.5 million.
It’s going to be a whole new world for Joe Haden. It’s a whole new world for Browns fans too as we get to know Ray Farmer and the rest of his personnel team over the next year. Maybe then, we’ll be able to better predict which guys the Browns will keep and how they will plan to do so in order to build a financially competitive team as well as one that hopefully wins on the field. These are really important details today when the Browns have tons of financial flexibility. These things go in cycles, and that’s not always going to be the case.
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Image via Candice Vlcek/WFNY
9 Comments
Joe and the rest of America’s pro athaletes make enough money to chip in for stadium upkeep and such. Taxpayer salaries are flat while player salaries keep humming along on their nonstop ascent into the stratosphere.
Yeah, I know athletes pay taxes too, but I’d really like to see them contribute more to the care and feeding of the golden goose. They can do with one less Maserati.
Why do people always put that burden on the players it should be on the owners. Haslam’s net worth is $1.45 B while Joe Haden’s net worth is around $9 mil.
Richard Sherman and Patrick Peterson anxiously watch the Haden negotiations. I agree with Craig that he will make more than Carr but less than Revis.
Lambo dealers around the country rejoice!
I don’t know that “people always” put that burden on the players. But I’m okay with making the owners pick up more of the tab also.
It’s more appropriate that owners and players pay for stadium perks than us. They get luxury everything, and I get to pay through the nose for a decidedly non-luxury seat on the 2-yard line.
Obviously, no one is forcing me to buy tickets, and I’m happy sitting in the peasant section in even the worst of weather. I’m only saying that it’s fair for the people who get the most out of stadiums to put in more than they do.
5 for 56 with 22 million guaranteed…since I completely made this up on the spot, I stand by it
Just beat me to it. I’m going to say 5 for 60 with $20 mill signing bonus.
5 years $54m with $29m guaranteed. Finnegan got $27m guaranteed, Carr $25m. Both the former were on the open market but older and less highly regarded.
they do give back to the community are you crazy just cuz u dont hear about it dont think they dont do things around here