NFL Agent: 'No Confidence' QB Will Ever Be Paid Percentage of Salary Cap in Contract

As the value of quarterbacks continues to increase across the NFL, contract structures for the top players is becoming an increasingly important discussion throughout the league.

One idea that has been broached in the past is tying quarterback contracts to a percentage of the salary cap.

Speaking to The Athletic's Jeff Howe, one player agent said he has "no confidence" such a thing would ever happen.

"It's going to take a quarterback on the open market with no restrictions and a desperate team," the agent explained, "and how often does that happen?"

One team executive told Howe cap-percentage deals won't happen because of the "peer pressure" from owners and general managers to not infuriate each other.

The top six quarterback contracts by average annual salary are the last six deals that have been signed since March 2022:

• Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens: $52 million AAV (five years, $260 million)
• Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles: $51 million AAV (five years, $255 million)
• Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers/New York Jets: $50.3 million AAV (three years, $150.8 million)
• Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos: $48.5 million AAV (five years, $242.6 million)
• Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals: $46.1 million AAV (five years, $230.5 million)
• Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns: $46 million AAV (five years, $230 million)

Lamar Jackson's reign as the highest-paid quarterback will almost certainly end when either Joe Burrow or Justin Herbert signs an extension with their current team. Whichever one of them signs first will have a short run at the top because the second one to sign will likely surpass it.

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach has already said he's waiting for the Burrow and Herbert extensions to get done before negotiating a new deal with Patrick Mahomes.

While this is how contract negotiations have gone on forever in all sports, the difference in salaries between quarterbacks and every other position means teams have to be more diligent in a hard-cap league to build a roster around their signal-caller.

Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald ($31.7 million) and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill ($30 million) are currently the only non-quarterbacks making at least $30 million per season.

If there was going to be a point when teams started tying a percentage of their cap to a quarterback contract, it likely would have come in the wake of Deshaun Watson's fully guaranteed deal with the Cleveland Browns.

Other owners weren't shy about making it known they didn't like that Cleveland went in that direction.

"I'm trying to answer that when I had a reaction to it. And it's like, 'Damn, I wish they hadn't guaranteed the whole contract,'" Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti told reporters in March 2022. "I don't know that he should've been the first guy to get a fully guaranteed contract. To me, that's something that is groundbreaking, and it'll make negotiations harder with others."

It was easy to see why Bisciotti was upset: Lamar Jackson was entering the final season of his rookie deal and wanted a long-term extension. Those negotiations dragged on for a long time before the 2019 NFL MVP finally signed a five-year, $260 million deal on May 4.

One reason Jackson's deal took so long to get done is because he reportedly sought a fully guaranteed contract, per ESPN's Jamison Hensley.

The Ravens gave the rest of the NFL an opportunity to give him whatever he wanted when they used the non-exclusive franchise tag on him in March. It allowed him to negotiate with the 31 other teams, with the Ravens allowed to match an offer sheet or let him go for draft compensation.

There were no indications at all that teams were even talking to Jackson, let alone breaking down the door to give him a deal similar to what Watson got.

Given the number of teams that are trying to find a franchise quarterback every offseason, it seemed strange a 26-year-old with a history of high-level production would not be able to get exactly what he wanted.

Quarterback contracts will keep going up because the salary cap is going to continue to rise with the NFL raking in revenue through television contracts, merchandise and advertising sales.

But history has shown owners and general managers do have a limit to how much they want to rock the boat when it comes to player contracts. Kirk Cousins is another player who has signed multiple fully guaranteed deals, but his salaries haven't broken the bank in the way Watson's contract did.