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Dan Graziano, senior NFL national reporter
The NFL quarterback contract extensions come fast and furious these days. Each one either bigger or more complicated than the last.
First-round quarterbacks receive fully guaranteed deals with fifth-year options, and their teams spend the first three years trying to build out their rosters before it’s time to pay them the really big money. Veterans receive second and third deals that break records for signing bonuses, guaranteed money or average salary. It can be a lot to track. What makes, say, Trevor Lawrence’s deal different from Tua Tagovailoa’s contract? What did Dak Prescott get in his deal that no one else did, and what does that mean for the Cowboys’ salary cap future?
We wanted to dig in on some of these questions and assess each team’s quarterback contract situation. Which teams are stuck with their QB deals for years to come? Which deals provide teams with more flexibility? Which teams can escape QB contracts right now, if needed? So what follows is a brief rundown of the QB contract situations throughout the NFL and what they mean to their teams. A couple of quick explanations before we get started, though:
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When we say “remaining guarantees,” we are counting guaranteed money paid via salary this season and via any salary and/or bonuses in future years. We are not counting signing bonuses or roster bonuses that have already been paid this year. So for example, when you see that Prescott has $47.75 million in remaining guarantees, that doesn’t count the $80 million signing bonus he got as part of the extension he signed before the season. That money is already paid and therefore not counted.
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One little hedge on this is that we used whole-number salaries for the current season, as opposed to prorating them and taking off the first five weeks’ worth. So while technically Daniel Jones has “only” $25.639 million in guaranteed salary still owed to him this season because there are 13 weeks left, we counted his current-year guarantee as the full $35.5 million.
OK let’s dive in. We grouped the contract situations by kind and then ranked them within those tiers, from best situation to most questionable.
Jump to a team:
ARI | ATL | BAL | BUF | CAR | CHI | CIN
CLE | DAL | DEN | DET | GB | HOU | IND
JAX | KC | LAC | LAR | LV | MIA | MIN
NE | NO | NYG | NYJ | PHI | PIT | SF
SEA | TB | TEN | WSH
Free and clear
These teams can move on literally whenever they want from their quarterback situation — even right now. They have perhaps the most manageable circumstances.
Signed through: 2025
Remaining guarantees: None
Earliest exit point: 2025 offseason