This is the second time in the past couple of weeks that the Atlanta Falcons have set off an extension chain reaction. First came Bijan Robinson's deal which made him the NFL's highest-paid RB. Not long after, Jahmyr Gibbs and Jonathan Taylor took advantage and cashed in with their respective teams.
Heck, you could even go back to Drake London's deal that led to Zay Flowers' and Chris Olave's paydays. But, most recently, the massive deal Falcons GM Ian Cunningham gave left guard Matthew Bergeron resulted in another big extension, including a one-up in Tennessee.
Bergeron signed a four-year, $96 million deal, with $60M guaranteed, that made him the highest-paid guard in NFL history -- at least for a week. On Friday, The Tennessee Titans handed out a monster deal to their own star guard Peter Skoronski, which saw him steal Berg's spot on the NFL throne.
Falcons cashed in at the right time with the Matthew Bergeron extension
The Titans signed Skoronski to a four-year, $100 million contract extension, which made him the new highest-paid guard in NFL history. His average annual value of $25M a year was slightly above Bergeron's at $24M a year, but he also landed $28 million more in guaranteed money on his new deal.
While Cam Ward's blocker is arguably a slightly better player, the Falcons get out of this with the better deal. Bergeron is a better fit for what the Falcons want to do on offense. He also has more stability around him, helping lessen the chance of the contract coming back to bite them.
Not too long before news broke of the Titans' latest signing, the Bills reached an agreement with starting guard O'Cyrus Torrence. While he is coming off a down year, he has shown that he is worthy of being Josh Allen's long-term guard.
All three of these guys are still young and entering the prime of their careers. Bergeron and Torrence are 26 years old, while Skoronski is 25.
After the resetting of the market, here are the highest-paid players at the position based on AAV.
- Peter Skoronski (TEN): $25M
- Matt Bergeron (ATL): $24M
- Tyler Smith (DAL): $24M
- Trey Smith (KC): $23.5M
- Chris Lindstrom (ATL): $20.5M
- Robert Hunt (CAR): $20M
- Quenton Nelson (IND): $20M
- O'Cyrus Torrence (BUF): $19.6M
- Landon Dickerson (PHI): $19.5M
- Aaron Banks (GB): $19.25M
It wasn't too long ago that Lindstrom and Nelson's contracts looked outrageous. It is the cool part about keeping track of NFL contracts; no matter the money paid to a player, it won't take long before it looks like a steal as the salary cap and the market both keep going up.
For the Falcons, this is the third time this offseason that it took less than a couple of weeks for Cunningham's proactiveness to pay off, but thanks to Peter Skoronski and the Titans, Matthew Bergon's extension was the latest example.
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