Fletcher Cox Extension with Eagles Sets Market for New Age of NFL Contracts

It's a good time to be negotiating a new contract in the National Football League.

With league revenue at an all-time high and the salary cap jumping by leaps and bounds every year, players fortunate enough to be re-upping during this bonanza are reaping the rewards.

On Monday, Fletcher Cox became the latest beneficiary, inking a deal that reportedly included a record $63 million in guaranteed money. While Cox is a versatile impact defender in the prime of his career, his deal says as much about the market as it does the man.

It also sets the stage for Denver Broncos linebacker Von Miller to get approximately all the money ever.

Adam Schefter of ESPN detailed Cox's pact:

Per Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, Cox's contract also contains a whopping signing bonus:

To the surprise of absolutely no one, Cox was feeling thankful after signing the deal.

It's also no surprise Cox got a big payday. Still only 25, he set career highs with 71 tackles and 9.5 sacks last year as a 3-4 defensive end. Among players at that position, the only one who received a higher grade from Pro Football Focus was some fella in Houston named Watt.

This year, Cox will shift inside to the 3-technique tackle spot in the 4-3 scheme being implemented by defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz. It's the spot he played when he began his NFL career and one he's expected to thrive in.

As Zach Berman of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote in May, during Cox's rookie year, then-defensive line coach Jim Washburn quipped, "When God made [Cox], he made him to be in this system right here."

Four years later, Schwartz echoed those sentiments.

"We think that scheme-wise and technique-wise what we do is going to fit him very well," Schwartz said, per Berman.

It's no surprise the team wanted to lock up arguably its best defensive player, an impact pass-rusher who is just now entering the prime of his career. But the size of the deal is jaw-dropping—especially the guaranteed money and signing bonus.

The thing is, it really shouldn't be. Not given the current contract climate in the NFL. In just the past few years, the salary cap has skyrocketed. In 2013, it was $123 million. By 2016, that number had spiked to $155.3 million.

That money gets spent somewhere. And pass-rushers get a big chunk of it.

Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh is at the head of the class Cox just joined with an average annual salary of just over $19 million, per Spotrac. Including Suh and Cox, seven defensive linemen have contracts that pay them in excess of $15 million a year. Outside linebacker Justin Houston of the Kansas City Chiefs makes it eight pass-rushers bringing home the big bucks.

And it's about to be nine. Because all Cox's deal did in Denver was send Miller's next contract that much farther into the stratosphere.

Miller, who was the MVP of the Broncos' Super Bowl 50 victory, is in the midst of negotiating his own extension. Per Mike Klis of KUSA (via 9News.com), talks stalled after the two sides failed to come together on one very important aspect of the deal—the guaranteed cheese:

"

[Miller] did agree to two elements of the Broncos' proposal—the six years in length and $114.5 million in total value. Instead of "rejecting" Miller was seeking to continue negotiating the contract's structure—specifically the guaranteed dollars—when the deadline passed.

...

The two sides did reach a partial agreement on the years and total value that would have averaged $19.083 million a year, a tad more than the $19.0625 million average Miami's Ndamukong Suh received in 2015 to become the NFL's highest-paid defensive player.

However, there are significant differences in how the proposals are structured. The key component to any NFL contract is the guaranteed dollars, particularly within the first three years. The Broncos full guarantee proposal to Miller is $38.5 million through the first two years of the contract (there is another $1.3 million in workout bonuses). Suh, in contrast, had $50 million in guarantees his first two seasons.

"

Now, we don't yet know how much of Cox's $63 million is fully guaranteed or exactly how the deal is structured. But it's safe to say that whatever Cox got, Miller will want more.

And as Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com noted, Miller isn't the only defensive star who undoubtedly did a double-take when learning of Cox's contract:

It's a domino effect. When Olivier Vernon signed a five-year, $85 million free-agent deal with the New York Giants, that set a new baseline. Both Cox and Miller angled for more. Cox got it, so now Miller will get even more.

And since it looks more and more like the New York Jets' Muhammad Wilkerson will play under the franchise tag this year before hitting free agency in 2017, he may get more still.

After all, next season the salary cap will jump yet again—by $10-plus million if the past few years are any indication.

It's something of a perfect storm, at least for the players. As the cap keeps increasing, teams are more and more reluctant to let their star players hit free agency, while teams with money to burn are willing to vastly overpay to fill holes.

So the teams overpay to retain their stars, and the bar keeps getting raised.

Given that fact of life in today's NFL, the most mind-boggling thing about Cox's big payday isn't the payday itself. A strong argument can be made that he earned it, and the market is what the market is.

No, the amazing thing is that for all the money Cox will make in 2016, in terms of average annual salary, Sam Bradford will still make more.

Now that's just crazy.

Gary Davenport is an NFL analyst at Bleacher Report and a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association and Pro Football Writers of America. You can follow Gary on Twitter @IDPSharks.