Assessing Odell Beckham Jr.'s New Contract

Michael Ginnitti
Michael Ginnitti, Managing Editor & NFL/MLB ExpertAugust 27, 2018
© USA TODAY Sports

Odell Beckham Jr. put a much needed jolt into the NFL contract world when he penned a 5 year, $90 million new-money extension to remain with the New York Giants for the foreseeable future. We’ll take a quick look at the details that are known, assessing how everything ranks out across the board.

 

The Total Contract Value
Related: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/contract-value/wide-receiver/

There are plenty of ways to report an NFL contract value, and we’ll try to attack them all here. For starters, the contract as a whole is 6 years, $98.459M, as it includes the 1 year, $8.459M salary Beckham was already signed to for 2018. Therefore, from a new-money, and new-years standpoint, we’re looking at a 5 year, $90M extension, that has a chance to become $95M should he hit escalators in 2022 & 2023 ($2.5M each, based on receptions, yards, and touchdowns). 

 

The Average Annual Value

Related: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/average/wide-receiver/

Knowing what we know now, the new-money AAV for Beckham Jr. comes in at $18M (90/5), good enough to eclipse Antonio Brown (PIT, $17M) by $1M. However, with a reported, $52.7M to be earned over the first three years (2018-2020), the front of this deal rings in at a $17.5M average, meaning it’s more heavily backloaded in the last 3 seasons.

 

Guaranteed, Now & Later

Related: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/rankings/guaranteed/wide-receiver/

Again, we’ve got a few scenarios to deal with here, fully guaranteed at signing ($41M), total available guarantees ($65M), and “new” guarantees. It’s been reported that the $65M in total guarantees includes his previous $8.459M salary, bringing that figure down to $56.5M. We don’t yet know if the $41M in upfront guarantees includes this figure, but it stands to reason that it might.

The $56.5M in new-money total guarantees ranks first among active WRs (Mike Evans, $55M), and 5th all-time among non-QBs. For now, his $41M fully guaranteed at signing also ranks first.

 

Cap & Cash Flow

Related: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/new-york-giants/odell-beckham-jr-14421/ 

Details still need to come out, but we know Beckham Jr. will reel in at least $21.459M in 2018, thanks to a $20M signing bonus. His base salary drops down to $1.459M in 2018, leaving a cap figure of $5.459M for the upcoming season, a savings of $3M for the Giants. He’ll then make a little over $31M over the next two seasons based on initial reports. 

 

Impact Going Forward

A strong year from Julio Jones puts these numbers on notice after 2018, while Michael Thomas will also be looking to cash in over the next 18 months in New Orleans. Tyreek Hill (KC), Golden Tate (DET), and A.J. Green (CIN) are other contract candidates at the WR position. Will any of these players eclipse the $20M per year mark OBJ was hoping for?


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