Pro Bowl quarterback Kirk Cousins will play for a third NFL team aftersigning a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons. Butwhile that amount is massive, he shed some light on the true nature ofhis deal, which is a constant fixture among most NFL contracts.Cousins compared NFL and NBA contracts during the April 3 episode of“The Big Podcast with Shaq,” saying:
“I’ve always been about structure [of the contract]. Because inbasketball, I think the contracts are guaranteed. Football it’s not thecase. No [there’s no guarantee]. It’s all fake money… You basicallysign one-to-two-year deals, a nice, nice contract. But then there’s thesefake numbers afterwards.”
The fake numbers Cousins referred to include contract restructuring,wherein a team converts a player’s base salary to a signing bonus tosave cap space. Teams can also add void years to a contract todistribute the cap hit into more seasons.
Likewise, NFL contracts contain incentives based on workouts attended,roster position, and in-game performance. Therefore, a player on adown year might not earn these bonuses
“What it does is it makes everybody come into work and grind theirtails off because even the highest paid guys are like, ‘If I don’t deliver,I’m gone.’ So there’s like a healthiness to that… But at the same time,you know, it’s not player friendly.”
In his case, the Atlanta Falcons guaranteed $100 million of his $180million deal. That includes a $50 million signing bonus, a $12.5 millionsalary in 2024, and a $27.5 million base salary in 2025. He will get an
additional $10 million roster bonus if he’s still with the team by the fifthday of the 2025 league year.Meanwhile, some of his bonuses include $10 million roster incentives in2026 and 2027. As a saving grace, Kirk Cousins’ contract with Atlantahas a no-trade clause. Of course, his earnings are subject to taxes andother fees, further watering down his take-home pay.
Conversely, NBA players get fully guaranteed contracts, with JaylenBrown leading the way with a five-year, $286.23 million deal with theBoston Celtics. His deal unseated Nikola Jokic’s five-year, $276.1 milliondeal at the top of the NBA contracts list.That disparity had Kirk Cousins sharing his desire to have NFL contractsstructured like their NBA counterparts.
“The NBA stuff we wish was true of ours is that if you play 10 yearsin the NBA, lifetime medical. For us, it’s basically no matter how longyou play, you’ll get medical insurance for like five years after I’m doneplaying this over.”
Kirk Cousins, a rare recipient of a fullyguaranteed NFL contract
In March 2018, Kirk Cousins signed a three-year, $84 million fullyguaranteed contract with the Minnesota Vikings. It was the first NFLcontract of its nature and the most lucrative of all deals at that time.Cousins signed a one-year, $35 million fully guaranteed deal in 2022.
However, that occurrence became more of the exception, not the rule.Deshaun Watson was the second player among quarterbacks toreceive a straight-up contract with no contingencies. He signed a fiveyear, $230 million contract extension with the Cleveland Browns afterhis trade from the Houston Texans.Finally, getting a fully guaranteed contract was one of Lamar Jackson’sdemands for his extension with the Baltimore Ravens. While he didn’tget his wish, the Ravens gave him $185 million in total guarantees fromhis five-year, $260 million contract.
It was the NFL’s richest contract in terms of annual average value untilJustin Herbert and Joe Burrow signed extensions with their respectivesquads
