NFL Insider Adam Kaplan Analyzes Latest NFL Contract Deals
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Adam Kaplan is our NFL insider on SportsGrid.
00:06 And thank God on Coast to Coast, you
00:08 can follow him for free on AXA Kaplan NFL,
00:11 well over two decades and a half covering the National Football
00:14 League.
00:15 And he gives us the skinny on everything all year long.
00:19 Again, thank God for that.
00:21 How about the money that JJ got in Minneapolis?
00:26 My man, this is real money here with Justin Jefferson.
00:28 It's a legit $35 million a year.
00:30 I had a look at the deal earlier today.
00:32 And they've been talking, Scott, for over a year.
00:36 And as I told you last week, it'll
00:38 get done before training came, probably well before.
00:40 I didn't know it was going to get done quite this quickly.
00:42 But the great thing is both sides had urgency.
00:46 The Vikings finally said, you know what?
00:48 We have to do this deal.
00:49 We've got to do it right by our player.
00:52 Kweisi Adolfo Menso, their GM, made this clear earlier
00:56 this year they're going to get this deal done.
00:57 Despite all the rumors about potential trade,
00:59 none of it was true.
01:00 The bottom line is they were going
01:02 to extend his deal one way or the other.
01:03 And I got to give him credit.
01:05 This is not their typical structure that they do.
01:07 They're guaranteeing $70 million in the first two years.
01:11 The guarantee is really high.
01:12 Justin Jefferson, Scott, is now resetting the wide receiver
01:17 market.
01:18 It's really an incredible deal.
01:19 Got to give his agents credit.
01:20 And also from the Vikings standpoint,
01:22 Rob Zinzke, their contract negotiator,
01:25 does a great job, found a way to get this deal done.
01:27 This was not an easy deal.
01:29 But what happens now, this helps the other receivers
01:32 who are unsigned.
01:33 We talked about this last week, and we can update it.
01:35 Now we know it's $35 million is top of the market.
01:38 Beats AJ Brown's deal at $32 million a season,
01:40 by $3 million a year.
01:42 Now if you're a guy like Steedy Lamb, the Cowboys who
01:45 unfortunately continue to wait, they
01:47 continue to wait to get deals done,
01:49 it costs them more and more and more.
01:51 You can go back 30 years, and the Emmett Smith deal
01:54 where they didn't get the deal done,
01:56 they had to back up the Brinks truck to get that deal done.
01:59 They've done it time and time again.
02:00 They've waited.
02:01 So the Cowboys, now they know the number.
02:04 If you're Steedy Lamb, his numbers are similar,
02:05 not quite as good as Justin Jefferson's,
02:07 but they're similar.
02:08 That deal will become between $33 and $35 million.
02:11 That was the number that a lot of people
02:14 were in the leagues pegged for Jefferson.
02:15 He got the top.
02:16 He got $35 million.
02:18 Lamb will try to get closer to $35 million.
02:19 It will be hard.
02:20 Don't forget, the Cowboys want to get Micah Parsons' deal
02:23 done, Scott.
02:24 That's another priority for them.
02:25 They, unfortunately, are not getting
02:27 Dak Prescott's deal done.
02:28 And obviously, if you're Jamar Chase,
02:30 who's a legit number one receiver, an absolute stud,
02:34 you want to not only get $35 million a year,
02:36 you want to try to beat that.
02:38 And then the other guys we talked about last week,
02:39 Brandon Ioki, won't get close to $35 million.
02:41 But $30 million a season is very, very fair.
02:45 And then you've got Tee Higgins, who's on that lower tier.
02:47 He's around the Jalen Weidel deal,
02:50 who got $28.25 million per season.
02:52 And the Bengals are not close on that one.
02:53 So these clubs, Scott, that continue to wait
02:56 to get deals done, they're going to have to pay up even more,
03:00 they thought, by not getting them done earlier.
03:03 Well, so let's talk about the Bengals for a second.
03:06 How are they going to pay Chase?
03:09 And what are his numbers in concert
03:12 with JJ's in Minneapolis?
03:16 And how, in God's name, can they pay him $34 to $35 million
03:21 per and then pay Higgins?
03:23 Now, they've talked about dealing Higgins for six months
03:26 to nine months.
03:28 And then they still haven't done it.
03:31 Are you kidding me that Brown's going
03:32 to pay both of them that kind of money?
03:34 I just don't see it.
03:35 It's going to be Chase.
03:36 And how are they going to deal with Higgins
03:39 other than to deal him?
03:40 No, in fact, I've been on record saying that
03:42 for the whole off season.
03:44 Chase should get done by training camp.
03:45 Now, see, this is the way agents look at it.
03:48 Everyone in the agent business who's got receivers
03:51 knew that Justin Jefferson was the top of the market.
03:53 They wanted to see where that number went.
03:55 Now, you've got $35 million.
03:56 If you're Jamar Chase, that's what you're looking for.
03:59 You're looking for $35 million.
04:01 He's been an absolutely phenomenal football player.
04:03 He's a franchise building wide receiver.
04:06 Higgins is a number two, is known for months.
04:09 He's not getting the kind of deal that he wants.
04:11 Plus, he's coming off a season where he's hurt a lot.
04:13 He doesn't have a lot of leverage here.
04:15 Look, he asked for a trade.
04:16 The Bengals have made it clear they don't want to trade him.
04:18 They did draft Jermaine Burt in a third round,
04:20 which he ran out of Alabama.
04:22 But he's not going to be ready to start right now.
04:25 Listen, they want to make another playoff run.
04:27 And to do it, they want Higgins there.
04:28 And then they can let him walk and then
04:30 get a compensatory pick.
04:31 They're big on doing that, by the way.
04:32 I mentioned this last week.
04:33 They let Jesse Bates walk.
04:35 They got a compensatory pick.
04:36 This is the way this team organization thinks.
04:38 Now, you talk about the cash.
04:40 They know what it's going to take to get Chase done.
04:43 It wasn't a secret.
04:44 It's just a little bit more than they probably thought.
04:47 Now they have the numbers.
04:48 Now they can get that deal done.
04:49 And good for the Vikings and Jefferson's representatives
04:55 of WMA to get this deal done.
04:57 This was not an easy deal to get done.
04:58 Because again, it took over a year.
05:00 That's how tough this deal took to get done.
05:03 But it got done.
05:05 And now you know what it looks like, $35 million a year.
05:08 OK, so go back to the Cowboys for me
05:10 and explain to me how they can pay Lam, Parsons, and Dak
05:16 Prescott, and then, frankly, anyone else.
05:19 Now, I know they have the money.
05:21 I know what the franchise is worth.
05:23 But that's neither here nor there
05:25 when you're dealing with these kinds of numbers
05:27 and what they can do for the season
05:30 with the rest of their roster.
05:32 So what they'll do is an extension with CD Lam.
05:36 They're going to do what happens at just about every veteran
05:40 extension.
05:41 You take the big salary that the players do this season.
05:44 You reduce it to the minimum salary.
05:46 Then you give them a major signing bonus, just like,
05:48 for instance, the Vikings did in this deal.
05:50 Then you raise the salaries year by year by year.
05:52 But you're going to lower this year's cap number
05:54 because the Cowboys are one of the few teams, Scott,
05:56 that have a cap problem.
05:57 That's why Dak's deal has not gotten done.
05:59 They'll do the same with Michael Parsons
06:01 if they can get that deal done.
06:03 That's a priority for them.
06:04 They've already budgeted it.
06:06 I'd be very surprised if that deal's not done by late July,
06:08 by the time they report to training camp in Oxnard,
06:10 California.
06:11 But Dak, look, the thing is, if you're
06:15 Todd France, Dak Prescott's agent,
06:17 why would you take less than $57 million a year?
06:21 By them waiting, you've got the leverage here.
06:23 And Dak, you could say whatever you want about Dak Prescott,
06:26 the guy's still a very, very good quarterback,
06:28 had an excellent season, did end like the club wanted
06:30 for anyone on offense or defense as they
06:33 played against the Packers.
06:34 But the bottom line is, when you're the Cowboys,
06:36 once again, they've waited.
06:38 It's going to cost them way more than they thought it would
06:40 or should have.
06:41 But this is what they have to do.
06:42 And again, the way you do veteran contracts
06:44 is you lower the salaries in year one,
06:46 and then you increase going forward.
06:48 All right, let's talk about the horrific story
06:53 about the passing of Hall of Famer Larry
06:56 Allen of the Cowboys.
06:58 While he was on vacation with his family in Mexico,
07:01 do you know any details at all of how he died suddenly?
07:06 Like, did he have a heart attack?
07:08 What was it?
07:09 Does anyone know?
07:10 Yeah, we don't know yet.
07:11 The family has not released that information yet.
07:13 And the Cowboys, in their statement
07:14 which they sent me this morning, did not say that.
07:16 It just said he died suddenly.
07:17 But 52 years old, boy, this is--
07:21 I don't know if you saw Emmitt Smith's incredible video.
07:24 He's obviously heartbroken, as a lot of people.
07:26 Because life, as a lot of us know,
07:29 when friends of ours pass and we don't get to say goodbye,
07:31 it's tough, man.
07:32 It's really tough.
07:33 Totally unexpected.
07:35 But I remember Larry Allen as this guy from a small school,
07:40 right, at Sonoma State.
07:42 Nobody-- like, Sonoma State, where is this school?
07:45 No one ever heard of it.
07:46 A Division II school in California.
07:48 And he wound up being a Hall of Famer, 11-time All-Pro,
07:51 one of the all-time greats from a small school.
07:53 And you've got to give Lake Gill Brand credit,
07:56 and everyone in scouting for many, many years ago,
07:59 who helped the Cowboys before Gill left
08:01 the Cowboys in the late '80s.
08:02 And everyone with Jimmy Johnson, and everyone
08:04 who scouted that Larry Allen.
08:07 Just a phenomenal job.
08:08 It was a second-round pick, by the way,
08:10 not even a first-round pick in 1994.
08:12 Who, by the way, was not just a guard,
08:14 though he was known mostly to play guard.
08:16 He also played tackle.
08:17 Yeah.
08:19 He actually played tackle and ended his career with the Niners.
08:21 Yeah.
08:22 Yeah, he played multiple positions on the front.
08:24 He was crazy.
08:25 And I did a show, believe it or not,
08:27 on Fox Sports with Gill Brand for at least a year or two.
08:32 I love Gill Brand.
08:33 What a great guy.
08:34 What a great football mind.
08:36 What is the deal with Waller of the Giants?
08:39 I hear you're reporting that he's going to retire.
08:43 Barring something highly unforeseen--
08:44 I put this out on Sirius XM a couple of months ago--
08:47 unless he changes his mind, he's going to retire.
08:49 As I talked to someone close to him a couple of times,
08:51 he's got some other business interests.
08:53 He's had a great career.
08:54 He turns 32 this fall.
08:56 And you remember, Scott, he's overcome an incredible amount
08:58 of personal issues and has been able to revive his career.
09:01 And yeah, barring something highly unforeseen,
09:03 he's expected to retire.
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