Exploding wide receiver market has created two distinct paths for NFL teams
NY Post
In today’s NFL, $28.4 million can either buy you one year of Jaylen Waddle and some new footballs to throw to him, or the entire Giants receiving corps.
The Dolphins’ Waddle, Eagles’ A.J. Brown and Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown all have signed extensions this offseason worth at least $28.25 million per year. New deals in the future for the Vikings’ Justin Jefferson and the Bengals’ duo of Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins are expected to exceed that threshold.
An exploding second-contract market for receivers — teams are spending an average of $33.7 million per year (13.1 percent of the salary cap) on the position in 2024 as compared to $12.7 million per year (9.4 percent of the cap) in 2014, according to OverTheCap.com — has created a system where you either break the bank on proven producers or roll the dice in the draft.
Giants general manager Joe Schoen has favored the latter option in addressing arguably the roster’s greatest weakness when he was hired. Schoen used a top-75 pick in each of his first three draft classes on a receiver — 2022 second-rounder Wan’Dale Robinson, 2023 third-rounder Jalin Hyatt and 2024 first-rounder Malik Nabers.
“You see where the wave is going,” said Brandon Brown, Schoen’s top lieutenant. “We’ve talked over the years about projecting the market … and you don’t want to be on the wrong end of deals. I think, when you look at how young our receiver corps is, it’s an advantageous position to be in. Just the production, opportunity and the skill set all allows for you to be cost-controlled.”
The Giants, who only have one receiver remaining (Darius Slayton) from the 10 who caught passes in 2021, rank No. 20 in the league in receiver spending ($28.4 million per year on current contracts), per spotrac.com.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Knicks could not fully salvage a two-way clunker Saturday night, and their longest winning streak of the season is history.
If Brian Daboll will be fighting to keep his job across these next seven weeks, it is not lost on Tommy DeVito that he is the one who has been entrusted to help his coach save it.
Kevin Shattenkirk is 35, a Stanley Cup champion and now a father of three with his wife, Deanna, after having a second daughter in September.
SALT LAKE CITY — An encouraging upgrade in his availability status didn’t result in Miles McBride’s return to the Knicks lineup.
This is pretty much the deal.
Uncertainty has followed Zion Williamson off the court.
SALT LAKE CITY — The “Dimes” nickname is open in New York now that quarterback Daniel Jones has been released by the Giants, and perhaps it can be a fitting team-wide moniker in another sport.
General Curtis LeMay: “You’re in a pretty big fix, Mr. President.”
Last spring’s ultimate defeat, coming on top of a quite similar one 24 months earlier, should have proved once and for all that the Rangers’ skill game, impressive at it at may be in spurts, does not overcome their physicality deficiency at the final-four level.
Jon Berti, who started three postseason games at first base for the Yankees when Anthony Rizzo was out with fractured fingers, was non-tendered by the team prior to Friday’s deadline, as was left-hander Tim Mayza.
CALGARY, Alberta — The Rangers needed just 16 seconds to get back into a game they had no business being in over halfway through.