By Nicki Jhabvala and Mark Maske
Jalen Hurts has secured the latest megadeal for an NFL quarterback, becoming the league’s highest-paid player by agreeing to a five-year, $255 million (A$380m) contract extension with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Hurts, 24, becomes the first quarterback in the celebrated 2020 NFL draft class to strike a deal on an extension. He cashes in on a breakout 2022 season in which he finished second in the league MVP voting and led the Eagles to a Super Bowl appearance.
The extension runs through the 2028 season. Hurts had one season remaining on his four-year rookie deal.
Nicole Lynn, Hurts’ agent, confirmed the terms of the extension Monday. The deal includes $179.3 million in guaranteed money, including $110 million fully guaranteed. It also has a no-trade provision. The Eagles confirmed the agreement without announcing financial terms.
The deal is not fully guaranteed, continuing a trend among the most recent contracts signed by prominent quarterbacks, which may work against Lamar Jackson in his stand-off with the Baltimore Ravens.
The Eagles selected Hurts in the second round of the 2020 draft and made him their starter, ahead of Carson Wentz, late in his rookie season. That was part of an organisational reset in which owner Jeffrey Lurie also parted with Super Bowl-winning coach Doug Pederson following the 2020 season and hired Nick Sirianni. The Eagles traded Wentz to the Indianapolis Colts that off-season.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, right, warms up for February’s Super Bowl with Australian left tackle Jordan Mailata.Credit: Getty
The Eagles reached the play-offs in the 2021 season with Sirianni as a rookie head coach and Hurts in his first full season as an NFL starter. They became a dominant team last season as Hurts became a star. He threw for 3701 yards and 22 touchdowns, with only six interceptions and a passer rating of 101.5. He ran for 760 yards and 13 touchdowns.
Hurts finished behind only Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes in the MVP balloting. The Eagles reached the Super Bowl but lost to the Chiefs, 38-35, despite a superb performance by Hurts in which he ran for three touchdowns and threw for another.
The $51 million-per-season average annual value of Hurts’ extension surpasses the $50.3 million average of the three-year, $150.8 million extension Aaron Rodgers signed last year with the Green Bay Packers.
But Hurts’ tenure as the league’s top-paid player might not last long. Hurts’ fellow 2020 draftees — quarterbacks Joe Burrow of the Cincinnati Bengals, Justin Herbert of the Los Angeles Chargers and Tua Tagovailoa of the Miami Dolphins — are eligible for extensions now that they have finished their third NFL seasons. And Jackson, a former league MVP, is seeking a new deal from the Ravens or from a new team.
Jackson has said he is seeking a trade from the Ravens, who used their non-exclusive franchise-player tag on him to limit his mobility in the free agent market. He is eligible to sign an offer sheet with another team, if he chooses. The Ravens could retain him by matching that offer sheet; if they were to allow him to leave, they’d receive two first-round draft choices as compensation from his new team.
Jackson reportedly has been seeking a fully guaranteed deal like the five-year, $230 million contract quarterback Deshaun Watson signed last year with the Cleveland Browns. Watson’s contract remains the NFL’s most valuable deal based on the amount of guaranteed money.
Two contract extensions signed later last year by quarterbacks — Russell Wilson’s five-year, $245 million extension with the Denver Broncos and Kyler Murray’s five-year, $230.5 million extension with the Arizona Cardinals — were not fully guaranteed.
AP
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