Joel Embiid received the NBA 2022-23 Most Valuable Player award. 

Embiid was in the last year of his Rookie Scale contract during the 2022-23 season and made $33.6 million, 26th in the NBA, and was the 6th highest paid center. Embiid now enters his Designated Veteran Extension estimated at 4 years $210 million for the 2023-24 season which is based on a $134 million cap.

Remaining Contract:

• 2023-24: $46,900,000
• 2024-25: $50,652,000
• 2025-26: $54,404,000
• 2026-27: $58,156,000 (Player Option)

Related:

• 2022-23 Philadelphia 76ers Cap
• 2022-23 Centers Average Salaries
• 2022-23 Centers Cap Hits

Tony Finau holds off Jon Rahm to win the Mexico Open at Vidanta. This is Finau's second PGA Tour win of the season and four win since July 2022. He earns $1.386 million for the 2023 season. Finau's on-course earnings are now at $5.2 million and his career total is $36.6 million.

Mexico Open at Vidanta Tournament Open Top 5

1. Tony Finau: $1,386,000

2. Jon Rahm: $839,300

3. Brandon Wu: $531,300

4. Akshay Bhatia: $377,300

T5. Emiliano Grillo,  Austin Smotherman, Eric Cole: $284,900

Full Results

2023 Earnings Leaders Update

1. Jon Rahm: $14,462,841

2. Scottie Scheffler: $12,508,495

3. Max Homa: $7,776,012

4. Sam Burns: $5,854,275

5. Patrick Cantlay: $5,805,625

Full List

With the 2023 NFL Draft upon us here's a snapshot look at the projected salary cap draft pools for each franchise.

What Am I Looking At Here?
Draft pools involve the amount of salary cap it would take for a team to sign & keep all of their draft picks in a given year. Obviously this is a fluid figure, as picks can be traded, players can go unsigned, and in certain cases, additional bonuses can be added to alter these figures slightly.

Why Are Top 51 Numbers Different?
During the offseason, only a team's Top 51 salary cap figures are accounted for in their overall total. For 2023, the cap figures of drafted players will range from $7.49M (#1 overall)to $771k (#251+). This means that many of these drafted players will carry a cap hit that won't be large enough to make their respective team's Top 51. For those that fall outside, only the prorated signing bonus portion of their cap hit will be counted toward the Top 51 salary cap. Once the regular season begins, all of a team's salary cap figures will begin to count.

Notable Notes

• At $20.3M the Houston Texans currently hold the largest overall draft pool for 2023, $3M more than any other team in the league right now. Houston will need $15M of Top 51 cap space (they have it) to sign all 12 of their picks.
• Thanks to last year's Tyreek Hill trade, and a Tom Brady collusion disciplinary action, the Dolphins enter the 2023 Draft with the fewest picks (4), and the lowest Total Draft Pool ($3.9M). They don't however own the lowest Top 51 Draft Pool. That belongs to the Cleveland Browns, who will only need $1.9M of offseason cap space to sign their 8 picks (2 3rds, 2 4ths, 2 5ths, 1 6th, 1 7th).
• The average Draft Pool heading into Thursday is $10.5M, while the average Top 51 Draft Pool comes in just under $7.3M. NFL teams have on average, $12.2M of Top 51 cap space right now.
• If your team has more draft pool than cap space right now - don't overthink it. Most teams (especially those in contention) like to keep their cap space close to the vest this time of year, knowing there will always be a contract or two they can restructure, trade, or outright release when the summer months start to come into focus.

RELATED:
2023 NFL Draft Tracker w/ Projected Contracts
2023 NFL Salary Cap Tracker

With news that OF Bryan Reynolds has agreed to an historic 8 year, $106.75M extension with the Pittsburgh Pirates, we took some time to identify each MLB Franchise's largest total value contract of all-time.

RELATED: All-Time MLB Contracts

Notable Notes

• Three franchises (Oakland, Chicago White Sox, Kansas City) have yet to sign a player to $90M+.
• 9 franchises have a $300M+ contract under their belts
• 17 franchises (56%) have a $200M+ contract under their belts
• 7 of these contracts were signed for 2023
• 12 of these contracts have been signed in the past 2 years
• Oakland's last "largest ever" contract was signed in 2004
• Only two of these contracts belong to pitchers (Greinke, Strasburg)

Paolo Banchero received the NBA 2022-23 Rookie of the Year award. 

Banchero signed a 4 year $50.16 million Rookie Scale contract and earned $11.1 million during the 2022-23 season (121st highest in the NBA). He has three years and $39.1 million remaining on his contract with Club Options for the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. 

Remaining Contract:

• 2023-24: $11,608,080
• 2024-25: $12,160,800 (Club Option)
• 2025-26: $15,334,769 (Club Option)

Related:

• 2022-23 Orlando Magic Cap
• 2022-23 Power Forward Average Salaries
• 2022-23 Power Forward Cap Hits

The Philadelphia Eagles made good on their offseason promise, locking in QB1 Jalen Hurts to an historic 5 year, $255M contract extension this week. The deal keeps Hurts under contract through the 2028 season, and includes $110M fully guaranteed at signing.

New Money Total Value

The $255M of new money chimes in as the 3rd largest contract in NFL history, behind Patrick Mahomes $450M unicorn extension in Kansas City, and Josh Allen’s $258M contract from the Bills. When factoring in $15M of additional incentives, and the $4.304M Hurts was owed in the final year of his rookie contract, the deal can max out at nearly $275M over the next 6 seasons.

Largest New Money NFL Contracts

1. Patrick Mahomes, $450M
2. Josh Alen, $258M
3. Jalen Hurts, $255M
4. Russell Wilson, $242.5M
5. Kyler Murray, $230.5M

RELATED: TOP NFL CONTRACTS

Including Deshaun Watson’s $230M contract with the Browns, Hurts’ deal becomes the 6th contract in NFL history to offer $200M+.

Small Signing Bonus?

Hurts’ $23,294,000 signing bonus ranks 35th among active contracts, 13th among active QB deals. Why so low? The Eagles, as per usual, have structured this contract with multiple early March bonuses that can/will prorate over a maximum 5 years for cap purposes, and keep the cash flowing for Jalen every offseason. But it still means less Year 1 money than most would anticipate for a Super Bowl runner-up quarterback.

Largest Signing Bonuses (VIEW ALL)

1. Dak Prescott, $66M (franchise tag extension)
2. Matthew Stafford, $60M (veteran extension)
3. Russell Wilson, $50M (veteran extension)
4. Deshaun Watson, $44.965M (veteran extension)
5. Aaron Rodgers, $40.8M (veteran extension)

11th: Jalen Hurts, $24.3M (rookie extension)

Guarantee at Signing

Jalen Hurts’ new deal comes with $110M fully guaranteed at signing, 3rd most in NFL history and by far the most ever for a rookie extension.

Top Guarantees at Signing (VIEW ALL)

1. Deshaun Watson, $230M (veteran extension)
2. Russell Wilson, $124M (veteran extension)
3. Jalen Hurts, $110M (rookie extension)
4. Kyler Murray, $103.3M (rookie extension)
5. Aaron Rodgers, $101.5M (veteran extension)

Hurts out-gains Murray by almost $7M in terms of upfront guarantee, with Josh Allen’s $100M the next rookie extension figure to compare to.

Practical Guarantees

What’s the difference? Guaranteed at signing means just that - the second Jalen Hurts signs this contract, it’ll be nearly impossible for him not to earn the $110M fully guaranteed. The remaining $69M is guaranteed for injury at signing, but will soon become fully guaranteed. Specifically, another $16.5M will lock in next March, an additional $30.8M will fully guarantee in March 2025, and another $22M will follow suit in March of 2026. 4.5 of 6 years are practically guaranteed.

Top Practical Guarantees (VIEW ALL)

1. Deshaun Watson, $230M (veteran extension)
2. Jalen Hurts, $179.3M (rookie extension)
3. Russell Wilson, $161M (veteran extension)
4. Kyler Murray, $159.7M (rookie extension)
5. Aaron Rodgers, $150.8M (veteran extension)

In looking just at the Hurts/Murray matchup, Jalen secures almost $20M more than Kyler with this latest blockbuster extension, and based on team success alone - rightfully so.

Salary Cap Analysis

With multiple bonuses, comes early cap relief for the Eagles - as per usual. Jalen Hurts’ contract carries the following cap hits as of now:

2023: $6.154M
2024: $13.55M
2025: $21.76M
2026: $31.7M
2027: $45.8M
2028: $54.1M
2029-2032 Void Years ($8.16M of initial dead cap, plenty more to come)

Hurts' $6.15M cap hit for 2023 currently ranks 20th among signed Quarterbacks. Any QB drafted in the Top 5 this April will carry a larger cap figure than Jalen Hurts for 2023. If the league salary cap increases its usual $10M up to $235M next season, Hurts will account for just 5.7% of it. If it jumps to $245M in 2025, he'll account for 8.8% in that season. To say these are value figures out of the gate would be an understatement.

Cash Flow Analysis

Year 1: $24.3M
Year 2: $40M
Year 3: $42M
Year 4: $51M
Year 5: $51M
Year 6: $51M

Hurts’ $64.3M 2-year cash ranks 10th among active Quarterback contracts, but is actually $30M more than Patrick Mahomes secured through his first two extension seasons. In terms of 3-year money, the $106.3M to be earned here currently ranks 8th, $11M more than the Bills are handing Josh Allen to start his extension. Only 4 quarterbacks have contracts with more 4-year cash than Jalen Hurts: Watson, Wilson, Prescott, & Daniel Jones - though the last two aren't guaranteed to get that far.

Potential Out & Fluid Dead Cap Warning

Don’t get sucked into thinking that the Eagles can walk away from Hurts after 2026 with just a slap on the wrist to their cash and cap pocketbooks. It’s not that simple.

The dead cap that appears on the contract right now only applies to elements of the deal that are fully guaranteed at signing ($110M + the carry over signing bonus proration from the rookie contract).

By the time we get to March of 2027 (presumably when the two sides could be looking to part), another $49.785M option bonus will have vested (adding $39.9M of bonus dead cap), & $22M of 2027 salary will already have become fully guaranteed. That’s an additional $61.8M of dead cap, raising the 2027 total to $106.5M.

What about after 2027? $89.702M of dead cap
What about when the deal concludes after 2028? $86.5M of dead cap

Concluding Thoughts

It’s easy to get caught up in the “how do we get out of this” conversation almost immediately when dealing with major contracts, but this Jalen Hurts contract should be celebrated for what it is: A ton of money for the player, and 6 years of predetermined tenable salary cap hits for the team. If the Eagles do absolutely nothing to this contract but exercise the option bonuses and let things play out as they will, a $54.1M cap hit in 2028 most likely won’t even represent 20% of the league salary cap that season. Philly’s style of contract structuring bakes the “restructure” into the cake. The room to wiggle comes with the option bonuses themselves. If at any point in time the team feels concerned about the future of Hurts as their starting QB, they can opt to decline one of those bonuses, take on an absurdly large base salary/cap hit for a year, and then push out of the contract, despite what will certainly be a devastating dead cap hit in the following season.

The best case scenario here (again, veering positive not negative), is that Hurts continues to shine in the role, and after 2026, he and the Eagles decide to rip up the remaining $102M, and convert it into a new, bigger, better, more complicated contract for all to enjoy. Keeping in mind of course that all of those vested bonus prorations in 2027-2030 will need to carry over to the new deal as well.

Lauri Markkanen received the NBA 2022-23 Most Impoved Player of the Year award. He was traded to the Utah Jazz from Cleveland in the Donovan Mitchell traded on September 3, 2022, which has given Markkanen a fresh reset on a roster that he seemed to gel with pretty well from the start. He was a 1st time All-Star and had career highs in multiple stat categories with the Jazz.

Markkanen was in the second year of his 4 year $67.47 million contract and earned $16.48 million during the 2022-23 season (87th highest in the NBA). He has two years and $35.3 million remaining on his current extension and will be extension eligible this offseason as of August 6th.

Remaining Contract:

• 2023-24: $17,259,999
• 2024-25: $18,044,544 ($6 million guaranteed)

Related:

• 2022-23 Utah Jazz Cap
• 2022-23 Power Forward Average Salaries
• 2022-23 Power Forward Cap Hits

As the 2023 NFL draft approaches we dive back into 5 years of #1 overall selections, including the respective rookie contract, and path each player as taken since.

RECENT #1 OVERALL PICKS

2023

TBD
4 years, $41.2, $26.9M signing bonus + 5th year option

• First 6 picks should guarantee $30M+
• First 11 picks should guarantee $20M+
• First 22 picks should guarantee $15M+
• 31st pick (forfeit) should guarantee just north of $12.5M
• $2.5M drop off between Round 1 finish + Round 2 start

» 2023 Rookie Contract Projections

2022

Travon Walker (DE, JAX)
4 years, $37.3M; $24.3M signing bonus + 5th year option
Finished 2022 as the 90th graded edge defender according to PFF, posting 3.5 sacks, 49 tackles and a forced fumble in 15 games. He was handedly outplayed by #2 overall Aidan Hutchinson in Year 1, but it’s early.

» FULL DRAFT CLASS

2021

Trevor Lawrence (QB, JAX)
4 years, $36.7M; $24.1M signing bonus + 5th year option
2021 & 2022 were night and day scenarios for Lawrence, who improved from 32nd to 11th in QB grading according to PFF. He’ll become extension eligible for the first time after 2023, and all signs point to a brinks truck right now.

» FULL DRAFT CLASS

2020

Joe Burrow (QB, CIN)
4 years, $36.1M; $23.8M signing bonus + 5th year option
Got off to a slow start, but, outside of rings, 2021 & 2022 couldn’t have gone better for Burrow. He’s the back to back reigning #1 graded QB according to PFF, completing nearly 70% of his passes with a 104 rating in that span. He’s extension eligible as we speak, with a $50M+ per year, $200M+ guarantee in his immediate future.

» FULL DRAFT CLASS

2019

Kyler Murray (QB, ARI)
4 years, $35.6M; $23.5M signing bonus + 5th year option
Murray improved each of his first three seasons, banking a rookie of the year and two pro bowl nods during that time frame. He leveraged that build-up (and a mini offseason holdout) into a 5 year, $230.5M extension last July. He earned $30M last season (instead of $5.4M), and he’ll earn $39M for 2023 (instead of $29M).

» FULL DRAFT CLASS

2018

Baker Mayfield (QB, CLE)
4 years, $32.6M; $21.8M signing bonus + 5th year option
Baker’s still trying to figure it out, and might get a legitimate shot with the Buccaneers in 2023. But as far as QB value on rookie contracts go, this one didn’t hit. There are flashes of capabilities, but without the consistency required to manage an offense for 18+ weeks in any given season. Baker cashed in $48.4M across his first 5 seasons with Cleveland, Carolina, & LAR, and he’ll look to revive his career on a 1 year, $4M fully guaranteed contract with Tampa.

» FULL DRAFT CLASS

NFL #1 PICK HISTORY

• 34 of the last 87 #1 picks have been QBs
• Since 1990 only 8 #1 overall picks have been defensive players
• It’s been 27 years since a WR has been taken #1 overall (Keyshawn Johnson, 1996)
• It’s been 28 years since a RB has been taken #1 overall (Ki-Jana Carter, 1995)
• This will (presumably) be Carolina’s 2nd #1 overall pick (2011, Cam Newton)
• This would have been the Bears’ 3rd #1 overall pick and the first since 1947.
• Matthew Stafford (2009) is the longest tenured #1 pick still active in the league
• The 4 players drafted #1 overall after Stafford (Bradford, Newton, Luck, Fisher) are all presumably out of the league. It’ll be 5 straight if Jadeveon Clowney doesn’t garner a 2023 contract.
• #1 overall picks since 2000 without a Pro Bowl nod: Courtney Brown, JaMarcus Russell, Sam Bradford, Baker Mayfield, Travon Walker

DRAFTED QBS SINCE 2018

With 3, maybe 4 QBs projected to be taken in the first round this Thurdsay, we'll look back at where QBs have been selected since 2018, and which are still vying for starting roles in the league.

2018 Quarterbacks (13)

ROUND BREAKDOWN: 1:5, 2:0, 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:2, 7:3

• Starters: 2 (Allen, Lamar)
• Competing: 2 (Baker, Darnold)
• Backups: 3 (Rudolph, White, Woodside)
• Out: 6

2019 Quarterbacks (11)

ROUND BREAKDOWN: 1:3, 2:1, 3:1, 4:2, 5:2, 6:2, 7:0

• Starters: 2 (Murray, Jones)
• Competing: 1 (Minshew)
• Backups: 5 (Lock, Grier, Stidham, Stick, McSorley)
• Out: 3

2020 Quarterbacks (12)

ROUND BREAKDOWN: 1:4, 2:1, 3:0, 4:2, 5:1, 6:1, 7:3

• Starters: 5 (Burrow, Tua, Herbert, Love, Hurts)
• Competing: 0
• Backups: 3 (Eason, Luton, Fromm)
• Out: 4

2021 Quarterbacks (10)

ROUND BREAKDOWN: 1:5, 2:1, 3:2, 4:1, 5:0, 6:1, 7:0

• Starters: 3 (Lawrence, Fields, M. Jones)
• Competing: 3 (Trask, Mills, Ehlinger)
• Backups: 4 (Lance, Wilson, Mond, Book)
• Out: 0

2022 Quarterbacks (9)

ROUND BREAKDOWN: 1:1, 2:0, 3:3, 4:1, 5:1, 6:0, 7:3

Starters: 4 (Pickett, Ridder, Howell, Purdy)

Competing: 0

Backups: 5 (Willis, Corral, Zappe, Oladukun, Thompson)

Out: 0

Nick Hardy and Davis Riley win the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. They each earn $1.24 million for the 2023 season. Hardy's 2023 on-course earnings are now up to $1.9 million and his career total is $2.8 million while Riley's 2023 on-course earnings are now at $2.47 million and his career total is $5.78 million.

Zurich Classic of New Orleans Tournament Open Top 5

1. Nick Hardy/Davis Riley: $1,242,700 each

2. Adam Hadwin/Nick Taylor: $507,400 each

3. Wyndham Clark/Beau Hossler: $332,175 each

4. Xander Schauffele/Patrick Cantlay & Matthew NeSmith/Taylor Moore: $261,225 each

Full Results

2023 Earnings Leaders Update

1. Jon Rahm: $13,623,541

2. Scottie Scheffler: $12,508,495

3. Max Homa: $7,776,012

4. Sam Burns: $5,854,275

5. Patrick Cantlay: $5,805,625

Full List

Taylor Gooch wins the fourth LIV Golf event of 2023 at Adelaide earning himself $4 million, plus $375,000 for the team bonus. Gooch's career LIV Golf earnings (individual + team) is now at $8.2 million.

Adelaide Top 5

1. Taylor Gooch: $4,000,000

2. Anirban Lahiri: $2,125,000

T3. Cameron Tringale, Patrick Reed, Cameron Smith, Pat Perez: $1,000,000

Full Results

Team Earnings

1. 4 Aces GC (Patrick Reed, Pat Perez, Dustin Johnson, Peter Uihlein): $3,000,000 ($750,00 each)

2. Rangegoats GC (Talor Gooch, Bubba Watson, Harold Varner III, Thomas Pieters): $1,500,000 ($375,000 each)

3. Stinger GC (Charl Schwartzel, Dean Burmester, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace): $500,000 ($125,000 each)