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- Wednesday turned out to be a pretty eventful day in the NFL, as four of the players who were previously franchised signed long-term deals: Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Justin Houston, New England Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski, Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant and Denver Broncos wide receiver Demaryius Thomas. (The New York Giants' Jason Pierre-Paul was unsurprisingly the only franchised player who didn't get a long-term deal.)
- The Bryant and Thomas deals are particularly interesting given how similar they are:
Dez Bryant and the Cowboys have agreed to a 5-year, $70 million contract with $45 million guaranteed. Not signed but will be shortly.
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) July 15, 2015Denver and Demaryius Thomas reach agreement on matching 5-year, $70 million deal that includes $43.5M GTD, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2015
- Houston's deal is also quite notable considering how much money he is now set to make in the coming years:
KC's Justin Houston signed a 6-year, $101M deal that includes $52.5M GTD, richest Chiefs' deal in history, richest LB deal in NFL history.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2015
(Even Gostkowski cashed in, at least by a kicker's standards, as he received a $17.2 million deal over four years.)Chiefs LB Justin Houston's new 6-year, $101 million deal also is second richest deal in NFL history behind only Ndamukong Suh's.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) July 15, 2015
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Calvin Johnson took notice of these developments and shared his thoughts on the deals on Twitter:
@JHouston50 I see ya J congrats my dude
— Calvin Johnson, Jr. (@calvinjohnsonjr) July 15, 2015
(I guess Johnson's contract wasn't quite as big of a headache for the Cowboys and Broncos after all.)Back to back solid deals for big time playmakers
— Calvin Johnson, Jr. (@calvinjohnsonjr) July 15, 2015
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Detroit Lions cornerbacks coach Tony Oden was recently in Japan to coach at the Nihon University Phoenix Football Academy.