The NFL’s collective bargaining agreement prohibits teams from renegotiating contracts with drafted players until they have completed three seasons. That clause has given teams a built-in excuse to leverage the most undervalued contracts in the NFL: quality starting quarterbacks who make $2 million to $3 million a year for a position that merits roughly $25 million a year.
The window for changing that paradigm for three of those young quarterbacks opened this offseason. One, Josh Allen, received a megacontract from the Bills. But as of this writing, the Browns and Ravens continue to extract extraordinary value from Baker Mayfield and Lamar Jackson, respectively, playing on rookie contracts.