Just before free agency starter, the Cleveland Browns took a pretty good swing to land Jerry Jeudy in a trade.
Not long after, they followed the trade up and gave him a new deal. Jeudy received a three-year extension worth $52.5 million which really makes it a four-year deal with the money in 2024 already guaranteed.
The deal was looked at as bad by many folks who saw the news of the deal, but the Browns believe they have a competitive advantage there.
"Yeah, so one of the things that we feel like is a competitive advantage for us has been our contract management philosophy," Berry said at the league meetings on Tuesday. "And we're firm believers that in that space the best front offices or the best teams are proactive as opposed to reactionary and market dynamics. In Jerry's case, you already saw two new receiver contracts enter the market that really are a harbinger of things to come in that market. I mean, probably by Week 1 of the NFL season, the top of that market's going to be north of $30 million.”
The Browns rather pay what looks like a little more now, than it’ll look like a bargain down the road when other guys are paid big contracts. It is a similar approach that the Browns did with David Njoku before he broke out and became one of the best tight ends in the NFL.
"So as we think of the contract management space, rather than be reactive to new market, we try and be proactive. And probably more importantly is when we think about an extension or a signing, we think about, OK, well where is the market actually going to be on September 1 as opposed to maybe an irrelevant market on March 1, so to speak."
Jeudy finished just short of 1,000 yards in 2022 and would have gotten it if he didn’t miss any time. The Browns paid him simile money to Jaguars’ Christian Kirk and Seahawks’ Tyler Lockett, who both were paid before Jeudy receiving his deal.
Cleveland believes that Jeudy’s best ball is ahead of him and that he can grow as a player in Cleveland. Borderline 1,000-yard receivers get paid in the NFL and that is what Jeudy is.
The deal works out so that the Browns can get out after 2025 if they want to, with all of the guaranteed money paid between 2024 and 2025. Jeudy is the lone top wideout on the roster who is under contract past this year and someone that the Browns have in their future plans.
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