Carson Wentz Extension is Great News For Jared Goff And Dak Prescott
By Kevin Gamgort
On Thursday, the Philadelphia Eagles and Carson Wentz agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth $128 million with $107 million guaranteed. His new contract is similar to Russell Wilson’s extension with the Seattle Seahawks this past offseason, which was a four-year deal worth $140 million and $107 million guaranteed, making the Eagles’ QB one of the highest-paid players in the league.
Eagles are giving Carson Wentz a four-year, $128 million contract extension that include guarantees over $107 million, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) June 7, 2019
Wentz’s total deal is now six years for $154 million, per source.
Although the Wentz contract will have a large hit on the Eagles’ salary cap, there was no alternative option. Before getting hurt in 2017, Wentz was having an MVP-caliber season. When healthy, he’s proven to be a top quarterback in the NFL, warranting the Eagles to commit to him as their franchise guy.
Comparing his contract to quarterbacks around the league, Wentz’ extension is worth $32 million per season, making him the fourth-highest paid quarterback in the league. However, the extension won’t kick in until his rookie deal expires in 2021, and he’ll only be making $6.9 million per year until that point. If you add it all up, what Wentz is making over the next five years would be about what the eighth-highest paid quarterback in the league would make. For a top-ten quarterback when healthy, this contract already looks like a great deal on the Eagles end.
Wentz’ new contract should create a domino effect in regards to the imminent contract extensions of Dak Prescott and Jared Goff, the two other big names at QB from the 2016 draft class. The Eagles were smart to sign Wentz now before letting the Cowboys and Rams dictate the market. After seeing the details of the Wentz contract, it can be assumed that Prescott and Goff will receive similar deals in terms of length, size and percentage of guaranteed money. Both players will likely receive a deal in the 4-5 year range for $120-plus million and a high percentage of guaranteed money.
This extension as a benchmark may force the Cowboys and Rams into paying more for their quarterbacks than expected. With the Cowboys having already signed DeMarcus Lawrence to a large extension and needing to make a decision sooner rather than later on a potential extension for star running back Ezekiel Elliott, Dallas’ salary cap is about to take a big hit. Expect Prescott’s contract to be slightly smaller than Wentz’, unless he somehow convinces the Cowboys into overpaying him. Which we know, is quite a realistic possibility.
On the other hand, after having a career-best season in 2018 that ended with a Super Bowl appearance, expect Goff’s extension to surpass Wentz’ on all fronts. With Goff’s incoming extension, the large majority of the teams’ salary will go towards him, along with Aaron Donald and Todd Gurley, who are already locked up for multiple years.
Although it appears that Prescott and the Cowboys aren’t close in discussions, and the Rams are currently content with waiting another year to extend Goff, the Wentz extension will certainly speed up the process.