With the 2020 NFL Draft over and each team having virtual workouts, it won’t be long before members of the class start signing their respective contracts. For the Jacksonville Jaguars, things will be different this year as they will have two first-round contracts to hand out after taking C.J. Henderson and K’Lavon Chaisson.
Over the Cap has the projections of each rookie selection from the first to last rounds. That includes picks No. 9 and picks No. 20 where Henderson and Chaisson were taken, respectively.
According to OTC, Henderson’s deal will be a four-year deal worth over $20.5 million with a signing bonus of over $12.4 million. On the other hand, Chaisson’s deal is worth a total value of over $13.3 million with a signing bonus of over $7.2 million. Both will also include a fifth-year option for the team to pick up as first-round selections.
Here are the four-year salary projections for both picks:
C.J. Henderson projected four-year deal
Year | Base | Prorated bonus | Cap hit |
2020 | $610,000 | $3,120,216 | $3,730,216 |
2021 | $1,542,554 | $3,120,216 | $4,662,770 |
2022 | $2,475,108 | $3,120,216 | $5,595,324 |
2023 | $3,407,662 | $3,120,216 | $6,527,878 |
Total | $8,035,324 | $12,480,864 | $20,516,188 |
K’Lavon Chaisson projected four-year deal
Year | Base | Prorated bonus | Cap hit |
2020 | $610,000 | $1,816,293 | $2,426,293 |
2021 | $1,216,573 | $1,816,293 | $3,032,866 |
2022 | $1,823,146 | $1,816,293 | $3,636,439 |
2023 | $2,429,719 | $1,816,293 | $4,246,012 |
Total | $6,079,438 | $7,265,172 | $13,341,610 |
Henderson’s deal will average slightly over $5.1 million annually, while Chaisson’s deal will average over $3.3 million. Those certainly aren’t bad figures for a player who is undoubtedly going to start as a rookie and beyond in Henderson and one who will eventually be a starter in Chaisson.
As for the fifth-year options of both, Henderson will earn a salary equal to the average of the 10 highest salaries at the cornerback position as a top-10 pick. That’s a figure that won’t be cheap by the time he’s eligible for his option to be picked up as the current average for the position is set at $14.1 million (for a top-10 pick at least).
Chaisson’s fifth-year option will equal the average of the third through 25th-highest salaries of the players at his position. For Chaisson, figuring out that number could vary as he could be classified as a defensive end or linebacker. Right now, that average is set at $10,051,000 for a defensive end and the average for a linebacker is $38,000 more. Again, these figures will be higher in four more years, though.
In total, the Jags will end up spending just over $14 million to sign their full rookie pool of selections. According to the NFLPA’s public salary cap report, they currently have enough to do so with $18.6 million in available cap space.