Several receivers have been paid this offseason. Many others are still waiting.
Last month, 35 more were selected, including nine of the first 34 picks.
As more and more competent receivers enter the NFL through the low-cost rookie pay scale, it’s fair to wonder if and when more and more teams will refuse to pay a receiver and look to the Draft for a replacement.
Two years ago three teams did it. The Titans traded AJ Brown, the Packers traded wide receiver Davante Adams, the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill. (Tennessee used the first-round pick it got for Brown on his replacement, Treylon Burks. The Packers went for quantity, selecting Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs and Samari Touré. And the Chiefs opted for a low-cost committee approach that has helped deliver all the Lombardi Trophies awarded since Hill was traded).
Now, with Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Bengals receiver Tee Higgins and Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb still clamoring for new contracts (all have remained away from OTAs), the question is whether they will eventually end up with other teams. , also. The Vikings already have Jordan Addison, who is entering the second year of his first-round rookie contract. The 49ers added Ricky Pearsall in the draft. The Bengals took Jermaine Burton. And the Cowboys, well, who knows what they’re doing?
There is another side to this issue. In 2022, the Packers, Chiefs and Titans found trade partners who were willing to give up significant trade compensation and who were willing to pay the players the contract they wanted. Two years later, what if there is no team(s) that makes the Vikings and Jefferson or the 49ers and Aiyuk or the Bengals and Higgins or the Cowboys and Lamb happy?
If Aiyuk wants money from Amon-Ra St. Brown, maybe that’s why no one traded for him during the draft. And while the Vikings insist they’re not considering trading Jefferson, sometimes it feels like they’re waiting for someone to make them an offer they won’t refuse. With Higgins, all signs point to the Bengals taking him through 2024 and then letting him walk. As for Lamb and the Cowboys, who knows what they’re up to?
The heart of the problem could be that teams are realizing that they don’t need to give receivers a lot of money. That you can recruit one who is, dollar for dollar, a better deal.
That’s what’s happened for the last 20 years at the running back position. Teams generally stopped paying big money because they could roll the dice on the draft and then develop the player. While Burks hasn’t exactly filled Brown’s shoes in Nashville, Jefferson was a day one star after the Vikings traded him for Stefon Diggs in 2020. And the Packers are currently considered to have a great group of young receivers. And, again, the Chiefs have won every Super Bowl played since they traded Hill.
The problem for the Vikings, 49ers, Bengals and Cowboys is that the 2024 draft has come and gone. Unless a player-for-player trade has to be made, trading receivers now won’t help their former teams this season.
The bigger question is whether a trade will ever materialize. Why give up a first-round pick (or higher) who could become a low-cost catcher for three or four years and, by the same token, make a massive investment in a player whose lifespan is closer to running back? What to the quarterback?
I am a card-carrying member, if not an unofficial captain, of the Pay The Players brigade. However, just as the supply of running backs eventually affected demand (and price), the same could be happening with catchers.
The best should still be paid. The challenge is to distinguish the best from those that can be easily replaced at a much lower cost. Or, in Jefferson’s case, draw a line at how much the best should get.
Keynote USA
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