Ranking the FA RB contracts. Was going to put this in a new thread but this will do.
I like to do this, following the money kind of deal to try and peel back the BS on the contracts and see what teams are really making a commitment to these RB's. It's not an apples to apples comp due to various structures but if a team has no guaranteed money that's no longer a real contract to the player, that's a team option. I don't consider that a commitment in any way to the players and won't list those as real commitments.
I don't know what triggers each performance incentives but will list the total, will list per game incentives and I will include workout bonus in the base pay because that's generally a given.
With that in mind here is how I'd rank the RB contracts.
1. Barkley
Clear winner, not a close second. Still I think a tad inferior to Darnell Mooney's deal which is kind of nuts.
*3/37.5m
*$26 fully guaranteed
$14,700 per game active
Bottom line: 2 years for $25.5m with max earnings of $26M
or
3 years for $37M with max earnings of $37.75
2. Jacobs
*4/48m but it's meaningless past year two.
*$12.5M signing bonus and first year salary of $1.2 effectively guaranteed.
*his guarantees trail Swift and some others but I'd rank his contract second due to likelihood he sees the first two years of the deal
Bottom line:
1 year for $13.7M with $29,412 per week active bonus for potential max of $14.2.
Or
2 years for $20.8m, with per game active bonus of $29,412 for max earnings of $21.8M.
Year to year after, no guarantees, which is no commitments, $10.2M and $12.2 m with with per game active bonus of about $41k er week.
3. Swift
*3/24m
*$15.24 guaranteed including $510k per year for active bonus
Bottom line:
2 years for $15.48m with $30k per week active bonus for max earnings of $16.5m for just being active.
4. Henry
A valid case can be made that Henry's contract is better then Swifts. Not having any guarantees in year two is why I put Swift over him, and in absence of performance bonus even if he gets the second year guarantee he still might trail Swift. A little difficult to gauge because he has $2m in performance incentives for each season, $4m total, based on rushing yards, TD's and a SB win but I don't know what those numbers are and even if I did it's not quite the same as a per game active bonus for just showing up.
*2/16m
*$9m gtd, all in year one
Bottom line:
1 year for $9m with max earnings up to $11m depending on the performance bonus.
or if team prefers
2 years for $16m with max earnings up to $20M depending on performance bonus.
5. Pollard
Could make a case his contract is better then Henry's. If neither see year two Pollard did better.
*3/21.75
*$10.49 GTD
Bottom line:
1 year for $10.49m with per game incentives of $30k for max earnings of $11m for just showing up each week, another $750K available in performance bonus.
Or
2 years for $13.99m, with $30K for per game for max earnings of $15.01M for just showing up, up to another $1.5m available in performance bonus($750K per year)
*a bit of a drop off now, please don't focus to much on the rankings. For instance if Jones gets a deal in 2025 he'll pass Singletary but I"m focusing on commitments by the team***
6. Singletary
*3/15.9M
*$9.5m gtd
Bottom line:
1 year $9.75m with another $1m available for performance incentives
or most likely
2 years for $11m with another $2m available for performance incentives($1m annually)
***I view these deals as all a step down from Singletary****
7. Aaron Jones
One year $6M with another $1m availabe in unknown incentives
8. Ekeler
*2/$7.21m
*$4.21 gtd
1 year for $4.21m, per game bonus of $30K which can get him to max earnings of $4.71m. Has $1.5 annual performance incentives rushing and receiving yards, TD's and catches I am not able to calculate.
No other guarantees exist but if they want to him him in year two it's:
2 years for $7.21m, max earnings of $8.26m with the per game active bonus, another significant $3m total($1.5 per year) for unknown performance bonus.
9. Antonio Gibson
*3/9.75m
*$5.3m gtd
Bottom line:
2 years for $6.73M, with $30K per game active bonus for max earnings first two years of $7.75m total.
Or
3 years for $9.72m with $30K per game active bonus for max earnings of $11.25
10. . Zach Moss
*2/$7.75M
*$3m gtd
Bottom line:
1 year for $4.225M with another $250K total for per game active bonus for max of $4.475
Or
2 years for $7.75m with another $500K max total for per game active bonus for max of $8.25m
**I listed his contract under Gibsons due to lack of guarantees in year two)
Mixon was not technically not a FA but I'd have included him if I knew his full details. All I know is $27M for 3 years, $13m GTD with year one payout of $10M. He would have almost assuredly been in that mix with Swift, Henry or Pollard.
Hopefully people see this as interesting or find use. You start really looking at this and see a legit real commitment to someone like Singletary for two years-which is surprising.. Gibson as well but for a decent amount less. Meanwhile it seems fair to say that while Jones is the only one on an actual one year deal, effectively so are Ekeler, Moss and Henry.
