As the NFL Salary cap consistently goes up, so will NFL contracts. Over the next two years you will see records fall at every position. It’s just the nature of the NFL. Since the offseason is agonizingly long, each week I will profile a different position to tell you who is the next man up for the Biggest NFL Contract. This week: Linebacker.
Quarterback
The Next Biggest NFL Contract Series
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Offensive Tackle
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Wide Receiver
Cornerback
Guard and Center
Safety
Running Back
Linebacker
Tight End
Special Teams: August 26
Back in 2012, Rob Gronkowski signed a 6/$54m deal with the Patriots to become the highest paid tight end ever at the time. The $9m AAV didn’t hold up very long, but the total value did. It wasn’t until August 13, 2020 when both Travis Kelce and George Kittle signed big old extensions to finally beat him.1 Not much has changed since then either.
AAV – George Kittle – $19.1m
Poor Trey McBride. For 26 days in April of 2025, he was the highest paid tight end in football at $19m per season. Then George Kittle walked into the 49er offices and said that he wanted to be the highest paid. They gave him $19.1m and that was that. Kittle became the highest paid back in 2020 at $15m per season. While he was fortunate to beat Travis Kelce at the time considering the deals were being negotiated simultaneously, he didn’t hold the title very long before Darren Waller and the Raiders beat him at $17m per season. Kelce would take the crown the next year at $17.125, and then that brings us to McBride and Kittle.
Total Value – George Kittle – $76.4m
Last year, Kittle really just took the McBride contract and said give me a little bump. the total value record was $76m and Kittle took it to $76.4m, just $100k difference per year. The crazy thing is that McBride really just took Kittle’s contract from back in 2020 and topped it by $1m total. That’s it. That’s how far the Tight End market has come in 5 years. I know the AAVs have gone up and Kittle’s first deal was for 5 years instead of 4, but still. It also means that Kittle has held the title for all but 26 days over the last 6 years.
Total Guarantee – Trey McBride – $43m
Ok, so Kittle didn’t sign the same EXACT contract as McBride and it makes sense. Because McBride was 25 when he signed his deal and Kittle was 31, McBride received more in guaranteed salary. It is basically just two years of the deal. This is another part of the market that has barely moved. The record was $22m by Trey Burton and Jordan Reed back in 2019 then Kittle nearly doubled it to $40m when he signed his 2020 contract. TJ Hockinson topped him by just 192k in 2023 and then it went to McBride.
Who’s Next?
Most of the TEs who could get paid have been paid, and it really thins up the ranks of possible extension record breakers. Kittle, McBride, Jake Ferguson, and Kyle Pitts have signed deals. Kelce and Dallas Goedert are at the end of the careers. Hockenson could theoretically get back into the mix with a big year, but injuries and bad QB play have taken their toll on his stats.
The 2023 Draft Class is starting to get their contracts. It just so happened to be a big one for tight ends. Dalton Kincaid of Buffalo was the only first rounder, but Sam LaPorta, Michael Mayer, and Tucker Kraft all came off the board before the 4th round. LaPorta and Kincaid looked like they might be the future at the position as rookies, but production has decreased ever since. Kraft was just the opposite, looking like he finally broke out in his 3rd season, but an injury stopped him after 8 games. Neither are in position to accept extensions right now, and could be banking on big contract years to propel them into the highest paid conversation.
As for Mayer, he happens to be stuck behind the best tight end in football (when healthy), Brock Bowers. Despite having nothing to speak of at QB, Bowers is 100+ catches, 1000+ yards, and 10+ TDs waiting to happen in a 17 game season. Assuming health, the Raiders are going to make him the highest paid TE ever after next season.
Contract Terms
Brock Bowers is the odds on favorite to be the next record breaker. I can’t imagine it is going to be close either. The triple combo of being a first team All-Pro candidate (which is more likely for him than literally anyone at any position), a safety valve for a #1 pick QB, and the Raiders having nothing but cap space ahead should make pulling a Tyler Linderbaum and lapping the field a given.
While it would be easy to say 4/$80m and move on, that completely ignores how fertile the Bowers extension ground is. Remember, a new contract isn’t even possible until next year when the salary cap should be around $320-$330m. I would think that 4/$100m is the floor and we could even see it go up to 4/$120m if he wants to be paid like a WR. If Bowers makes Fernando Mendoza look good, expect a seismic shift like what Grownkowski did to the market in 2012 and then Kittle did in 2020.
- Kittle 5/$75m, Kelce 4/$57.25m ↩︎
Contracts: Spotrac
Photo: Erik Drost (no changes)
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