Multiple receivers have gotten paid this offseason. Multiple others are still waiting.
Last month, 35 more were drafted — including nine in the first 34 selections.
As more and more competent receivers enter the NFL via the low-cost rookie wage scale, it’s fair to wonder if/when more and more teams will decline to pay a receiver and look for a replacement instead in the draft.
Two years ago, three teams did it. The Titans traded A.J. Brown, the Packers traded receiver Davante Adams, the Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill. (Tennessee used the first-round pick it got for Brown on his replacement, Treylon Burks. The Packers opted for quantity, drafting Christian Watson, Romeo Doubs, and Samari Toure. And the Chiefs went with a low-cost committee approach that has helped deliver every Lombardi Trophy awarded since Hill was traded.)
Now, with Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, 49ers receiver Brandon Aiyuk, Bengals receiver Tee Higgins, and Cowboys receiver CeeDee Lamb still clamoring for new contracts (all have stayed away from OTAs), the question becomes whether they’ll eventually end up with other teams, too. The Vikings already have Jordan Addison, who’s entering year two of his first-round rookie deal. The 49ers added Ricky Pearsall in the draft. The Bengals took Jermaine Burton. And the Cowboys, well, who knows what they’re doing?
There’s another side to this issue. In 2022, the Packers, Chiefs, and Titans found trade partners who were willing to give up significant trade compensation — and who were willing to pay the players a contract they wanted. Two years later, what if there’s no team(s) to make the Vikings and Jefferson or the 49ers and Aiyuk or the Bengals and Higgins or the Cowboys and Lamb happy?
If Aiyuk wants Amon-Ra St. Brown money, maybe that’s why no one traded for him during the draft. And even though the Vikings insist they aren’t considering trading Jefferson, at times it feels like they’re waiting for someone to make them an offer they won’t refuse. With…
..
