NFL 2019: Jarvis Landry, former Patriots headline All-Overpaid team
By Randy Gurzi
Safety: Landon Collins, Washington Redskins
Contract: Six years, $84 million with $44.5 million guaranteed
The Washington Redskins love two things — game managing quarterbacks and overpaying safeties. Back in 2006, they made Adam Archuleta the highest paid safety in the league (at that point) when they gave him a six-year, $30 million contract. He ended up playing just one season and wasn’t even a starter for half that year.
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Fast forward to 2019, and the Redskins went big in the safety market again, this time paying Landon Collins a whopping $84 million over six seasons. That’s more than double what they gave Archuleta, which shows just how much the market has changed in this time.
Now, this isn’t to say that Collins will be anywhere near as bad a fit as Archuleta was, but it should have been a cautionary tale for Washington. They often go big in free agency for defensive players and it doesn’t always end as they hope.
As for Collins, he’s a great player and one of the better strong safeties in the game. However, that’s far too much money for a position that has been devalued by most of the NFL — which is evident by the contracts number of quality safeties who have struggled to find jobs.
Safety: Tyrann Mathieu, Kansas City Chiefs
Contract: Three years, $42 million with $26.8 million guaranteed
Much like Collins, Tyrann Mathieu is a really good safety. However, he may have been slightly overpaid by the Chiefs this offseason as they were pretty desperate for someone to fill the position.
After a disastrous defensive year, they went out to try and shore up their secondary with Mathieu being the primary acquisition. The seventh-year veteran is undersized at 5-9 and 185-pounds and is on his third team in as many seasons. He’s going to help the Chiefs in 2019, but the question is whether or not he’s going to make as big of an impact as his contract suggests he should.