As it presently stands, Alshon Jeffery has the NFL’s second-highest base salary for a wide receiver in 2016, playing under the one-year, non-exclusive franchise tag valued at $14.599 million guaranteed.
Beyond next season, the only two receivers with more lucrative average annual base salaries are Detroit’s Calvin Johnson ($16,207,143) and Cincinnati’s AJ Green ($15 million), who each are under contract through 2019.
Of course, the desired outcome for both the Chicago Bears and Jeffery is to eventually negotiate a similar long-term deal prior to the league’s July 15 deadline to sign franchised players to multiyear agreements.
Generally speaking, when a player knows he is a strong candidate to receive the franchise tag, such as Jeffery, the agent initially asks for close to the franchise tag amount on an annual basis. That’s just smart business. Technically, the Bears, by applying the tag, set Jeffery’s market value at $14.599 million per year. There is no reason for Jeffery to rush into taking a deal he views as below market value, especially since the former Pro Bowl wideout is already financially secure thanks to off-the-field endeavors.
However, guaranteed money is what matters in the NFL. And the only way Jeffery can truly max out on guaranteed money is to sign for longer than one year.
For a long-term deal to eventually get done, common ground has to be reached over the next four-plus months. Expect dialogue to again open up at some point after several productive rounds of talks involving Ryan Pace, John Fox and director of football administration Joey Laine took place at the NFL combine.
That’s because the Bears are just as motivated as Jeffery.
At just 26-years old, Jeffery has 228 receptions for 3,361 yards and 21 touchdowns over his last 41 games played. He is also a homegrown talent, so to speak, and the Bears have done a terrible job signing former draft picks to second contracts. Since 2009, Henry Melton (franchise tag) is the only former draft pick to re-up beyond his initial rookie deal.
And while Jeffery does have a history of injuries, the Bears believe the right training and nutritional systems exist at Halas Hall for him to stay healthy in 2016 and beyond.
“Like anybody’s career, you take it in pieces,” Fox said last week. “Typically, the pieces people break it down to are usually annually. I think he’s had good production over his career. I don’t think it’s fair just to take one segment of it and try to define him by that, whether that’s good or bad, regardless of what player I’m talking about. But we’ve seen enough of him, albeit that we’d like to have seen him more, but that’s part of football and we’re willing to take that risk. When he’s been healthy we’ve liked his production and what he brings to our team.”
The Bears would also prefer to lower Jeffery's projected $14.599 million cap hit in 2016.
It remains to be seen if Jeffery can snag a higher average annual payday than Atlanta’s Julio Jones ($14.250 million), Denver’s Demaryius Thomas ($14 million) or Dallas’ Dez Bryant ($14 million), but Jeffery is at the minimum in the next tier of wideouts such as Indianapolis’ T.Y. Hilton ($13 million), Minnesota’s Mike Wallace ($12 million) and Tampa Bay’s Vincent Jackson ($11,111,111 million).
Jeffery is also six years younger than Arizona’s Larry Fitzgerald, who is scheduled to earn a base salary of $11 million next season. The overall deal for Kansas City’s Jeremy Maclin is five years, $55 million.
The reality is Jeffery can strongly argue he deserves top-seven NFL wide receiver money, and after glancing at the numbers, it’s hard to disagree.