The Miami Dolphins locked in Jaylen Waddle to a three-year, mostly guaranteed contract worth nearly $85 million. That makes him the latest wide receiver to strike it rich in the NFL. His average salary of more than $28 million per year — and the Dolphins’ commitment of nearly $60 million annually to Waddle and Tyreek Hill — is a rock tossed into a lake of salary cap commitments whose ripples will force general managers across the league to adjust how their rosters are built.
The Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys, however, aren’t interested in the waves lapping against their boats. They’ve got bigger storms to navigate this offseason — and arguably the league’s best two wideouts to keep happy.
The Cowboys’ offense ran through CeeDee Lamb in 2023. He led the NFL in receptions and was the genesis of nearly 40 percent of the team’s passing offense en route to first-team All-Pro honors. Justin Jefferson has had the finest first four seasons of any receiver in league history, averaging nearly 1,500 yards each year despite missing seven games last fall. Now he’ll be tasked with easing JJ McCarthy’s transition from NCAA champion to NFL rookie.
Both stars are staring down their age 25 seasons; seasons that are the last on their current contracts. Each is staring down the other, knowing that either will be the highest paid receiver in league history at some point. One will hold that title for a week or so; the other will carry it through the 2024 season and possibly beyond.
The current benchmarks for Lamb and Jefferson to clear are the $120,010,000 in total contract value signed by Detroit Lion Amon-Ra St. Brown this offseason and the $32 million in average annual salary the Philadelphia Eagles awarded to A.J. Brown in a three-year deal. Both teams have the money to afford a mega-deal, at least on the surface.
The Vikings’ estimated $68.9 million in projected 2025 salary cap space, per Over the Cap, is fifth-most at the moment. The Cowboys are right behind at more than $65 million. Those numbers aren’t created equally, however. Minnesota gets the luxury of building around McCarthy’s rookie contract for the next three to four years. Dallas, on the other hand, has to navigate extensions for Dak Prescott, Zach Martin and Micah Parsons over the next two seasons — the kind of superstars for which Jerry Jones has knotted up his cap sheet trying to keep in years past.
This complicates things. Conventional wisdom suggests Jones should move quickly on Lamb to at least create some marginal savings. The goal for either player will be to top the other’s contract. That could be a big statement (think Hill breaking the curve with his four-year, $120 million deal in 2022) or a minor, symbolic one (like St. Brown signing for that, plus $10,000 more).
Either way, the first guy to sign will reset the market until his colleague inks a more expensive deal not long after. Everyone involved knows this, and while the teams would like to be the first to announce a big, happy extension their players would not. Ultimately, the difference between the two will be minimal; a pair of four-year deals costing between $120 and $130 million with significant guarantees for players arguably still approaching their primes.
Jaylen Waddle’s deal will make life more difficult for teams working to keep two elite wideouts under the salary cap. But it doesn’t affect Lamb and Jefferson at the moment. Their only benchmarks are each other. And while only one will be the league’s highest-paid receiver through the 2024 season, both are going to be so, so rich.
