There was sticker shock on Laurent Duvernay-Tardif’s long-term deal announced last week. Five years, $41 million was the reported price. More than $8 million per year was among the highest paid guards in the league.
Until free agency started.
The Browns just blew the guard market out of the water with $12 million per year to former Bengals guard Kevin Zeitler: five years, $60 million.
That makes LDT’s deal look like a bargain. And what’s going to happen next year when cap has gone up another $10 million. It’ll make that deal look better and better. That’s what’s so hard about these contracts. You have to project years down the road what the market will be and it looks like Chiefs GM John Dorsey got it right that it would go up substantially.
LDT has to live up to it. If he stays the same, this is not a good deal. You’re banking on him continuing to show improvement, which is a reasonable bet given what he’s shown in the first three years of his career.