Currently in the midst of a massive roster overhaul, the Carolina Panthers reset the running back Monday, committing to Christian McCaffrey through the 2025 season.
The four-year, $64 million extension makes him the game’s highest-paid RB, and provides a new lens through which to view Ezekiel Elliott’s own mega-deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
Carolina’s Christian McCaffrey is signing a four-year extension, averaging $16 million per year, making him the highest-paid running back in NFL history, sources tell ESPN.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 13, 2020
The six-year, $90 million contract signed by Elliot in 2019 barely lasted seven months as the most expensive RB deal in the league. While McCaffrey’s new contract details are still coming out, the $64 million represents entirely new money he’ll receive beginning in 2021, which just squeaks by Elliott in terms of AAV ($16M vs $15M per year). Also notable will be the guaranteed money involved, as “well over half” of McCaffrey’s extension is guaranteed. Elliott’s entire deal, original years and extension, contained $50 million in guaranteed money.
Per source, well over half of Christian McCaffrey's four-year, $64 million extension is guaranteed. Also, a good signal from Panthers coach Matt Rhule to his team on the types of players the new regime will reward.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 13, 2020
In a time where no position’s value is more scrutinized, the McCaffrey contract takes the plunge into unknown waters. His skills as a receiver (303 receptions over three seasons, 1,005 receiving yards and 4 TD receptions in 2019) undoubtedly alter the criteria by which McCaffrey’s contract will be judged going forward.
For players like Saquon Barkley, Alvin Kamara and Derrick Henry, this new contract should restore some optimism after David Johnson and Todd Gurley’s former teams each ate a substantial amount of dead money to remove them from their rosters.
As for Elliott, his holdout last year looks to have served him extremely well. The Cowboys are still attempting to navigate their salary cap situation, and while Elliott’s timing made things harder from the team’s perspective, that is the price Dallas pays for selecting him fourth overall and installing him as a major focal point of the offense. The merits of building a team that way, and how much of the offense should be dedicated to running the football continue to be debated, but the Cowboys are nonetheless locked in to this path for at least the next few seasons.
Luckily for Dallas, Elliott doesn’t seem to be cut from the same cloth, compared to either the running backs he entered the league with, or those who came after.
Set to enter his fifth season at age 25, no longer is Elliott the fresh face devouring league records and defining the position. He’s now forging a path as an anomaly, a throwback to the bell-cow backs of yesteryear as he enters what should be the prime of his career.
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