With week one of the NFL season a day away, this is generally the time of the year where teams start shuffling money around to create cap space for the upcoming season. Though the NFL has a hard cap, contracts are pliable. They can be reduced if mutually agreed upon by the player and organization. They can be restructured, which turns the base salary into a bonus, lower the cap hit, and spreading the difference over the remainder of the contract. Or teams will extend players that are entering the final year of their contracts.
Teams generally don’t want to bid for their own players when they get to free agency. Working out contract extensions before the final year helps them avoid the bidding war that is sure to follow when one of the best players at his position gets to free agency.
And that’s what the Baltimore Ravens were trying to avoid by signing Mark Andrews to a four-year $56 million contract extension that will keep him with the team through the 2025 season.
As part of the extension per Over The Cap, Andrews received $30 million guaranteed at signing and has another $7.5 million guaranteed over the remainder of the contract if he remains on the roster.
The guaranteed money in Mark Andrews’ contract extension represents the third-highest fully guaranteed money for a current tight end contract behind rookie tight end Kyle Pitts, who was the fourth overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft, and 2021 free agent signing by the New England Patriots Jonnu Smith.
Andrews’ contract puts him third in average annual value (AAV) at $14 million per season with his new extension. He sits behind George Kittle of the San Francisco 49ers and Travis Kelce of the Kansas City Chiefs.
Since entering the NFL in 2018 as a third-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens, Mark Andrews has caught 20 touchdown passes, ranking fourth at the tight end position. Only Kelce (26), Jared Cook (22), and Eric Ebron (21) have more touchdowns in that span than Andrews. Including wide receivers, Andrews sits 16th since 2018 in touchdown receptions, ahead of Julio Jones, Allen Robinson, Cooper Kupp, and Odell Beckham Jr.
Mark Andrews is off to a stellar career with Baltimore and should have six or more touchdowns to his stat sheet this year. Though the expectations have always been high for Andrews, he’ll have to take his game to another level as one of the highest-paid at his position. And with Lamar Jackson slinging the football, Andrews should be in store for another big season.
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