First to be unretired, though I am guessing not.
Brian
Indianapolis Colts OT Jake Witt, a seventh-round pick in the 2023 draft, surprisingly announces his retirement.
49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk finally signed an extension, after months of the most exhausting public negotiations I’ve witnessed. I didn’t mind the diva act at the beginning, but the weeks and weeks of “updates” that boiled down to "no news° " were awful as a fan. I wouldn’t have checked so much, but I wanted to get the news before my buddy. That didn’t end up working. I’m the end, I’m happy Aiyuk is staying and that he got paid well.
°: I’m an expert on this.
I don’t think he’s that good. He’s been a decent receiver, not elite. He had 1300 yards and 7 scores last year, by far his best.
It’s also possible that his stats and stature suffer from having three other excellent receivers on his team: George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and even RB Christian McCaffrey. Either way, the Niners certainly paid him WR1 money.
That’s an excellent point. Last season the Niners had four receivers with at least 60 receptions. Doubtful if any other team can make that claim.
Well, between competing for receptions with those guys, and getting open because those guys are also on the field, it all probably more or less evens out.
CeeDee Lamb screwed it up for everyone with his contract. Well, screwed it up for teams, not for other WRs. Aiyuk’s contract is probably the new norm for good, not elite receivers.
Huh. Yesterday, this article from Fox Sports ranked Lamb as the 3rd-best WR in the league and Aiyuk as 8th.
Lamb is elite. He led the league in catches, yards after the catch and touchdowns last season and finished just behind Tyreek Hill in overall receiving yards.
Aiyuk has never led the league in anything. (He came close to leading the league in yards per target last year.)
Here’s one more article ranking the top WRs in the NFL. Again, Lamb is 3rd and Aiyuk is 8th.
Granted, these rankings are only opinions. But both of the articles I linked back up the point that Aiyuk is well above average at his position. Maybe not elite, but certainly better than good,
https://www.profootballnetwork.com/best-wide-receivers-nfl-rankings/
He’s certainly well above average, but he’s certainly not the fourth best player at his position (which is what he’s getting paid as).
A lot of it is just a matter of who gets a new contract, when. I don’t think anyone could seriously argue that Jordan Love or Trevor Lawrence are the best QB in the NFL today, but they’re currently tied with Joe Burrow for the biggest contract, because both Love and Lawrence signed new contracts this year.
So following that logic, Patrick Mahomes is the 11th best quarterback in the NFL?
It’s rather obvious that the amount of a player’s salary does not necessarily equate to his relative position among his peers.
Also, what @kenobi_65 just said.
Contracts are less about who’s best, and more about who’s next.
Okay, fair enough.