NFL teams will haggle, claim they are cash-strapped or swear they won't make another offer -- but, eventually, most of the game's star players get paid.
That's what went down last week with the Seahawks' Jamal Adams, now the highest-paid safety by a sizable margin thanks to a four-year, $70 million offer. Or the week before, when Josh Allen was put on track to become second-richest quarterback in NFL history thanks to the Bills' $258 million extension over six years. Indianapolis' Darius Leonard and San Francisco's Fred Warner just reset the linebacker market by a few million per year on deals worth a combined $196 million.