Saints Rumors: Erik McCoy Agrees to 5-Year, $64M Contract Extension

The New Orleans Saints will reportedly have stability in the middle of their offensive line for the foreseeable future.

According to ESPN's Adam Schefter, the NFC South team agreed to a five-year, $63.8 million contract extension with center Erik McCoy.

McCoy has been with the Saints since they selected him out of Texas A&M with a second-round pick in the 2019 NFL draft.

He appeared in all 16 games in each of his first two seasons and 12 games in 2021. McCoy missed time with a calf injury last season, which was part of a larger concern for a New Orleans squad that set an NFL record by using 58 different players in the starting lineup over the course of the year.

The 25-year-old is now presumably healthy and in the middle of his prime, which this deal guarantees will be spent with the team that drafted him.

Pro Football Focus gave him a solid but unspectacular overall player grade of 63.6 last season, which fell well below the 76.2 he earned as a rookie and his 70.1 mark in his second year.

Perhaps the injury played a role in his drop in play, and it's not as if he was a major liability along the offensive front. The nature of this contract, which puts McCoy among the top five highest-paid centers on a per-year basis, confirms New Orleans' trust in him.

The organization no longer has to worry about negotiating with the center as the 2022 season unfolds. That new campaign starts with a divisional showdown against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday.