The paradigm shift underscores how ill-prepared the Madden NFL 24 was for Madden 24 coins receiver pay to explode. A year ago Amari Cooper was the only WR to make over $20M, with the majority of top receiver contracts falling in the $10-15M range. Now, there are five receivers set to make over $20M, with another seven earning over $15M. There is going to be a lot of pain moving forward and exceedingly tough decisions. While QB and WR pay are increasing exponentially, the salary cap is not keeping up. In the last four years the cap has only risen $20M, while positional salaries have boomed, especially on offense.
This means that unless there’s significant cap relief in 2023 allowing teams to spend more (something owners are likely loathed to do because it eats into their profits), teams will have to begin deciding whether they want to pay an elite quarterback OR an elite receiver, because they likely cannot afford both. Players deserve to get paid, and they’re going to find someone to pay them, whether or not that means competing for a contender or not.
The most interesting wrinkle to all this is when we look at how effective young receivers have been in recent years. Madden NFL 24 offenses are so like college in modern football that the idea of a slow onboarding process, or the 1-2 year build to being a top receiver is gone. Justin Jefferson broke the Madden NFL 24’s rookie receiving record in 2020, then it was immediately bested by Ja’Marr Chase. In fact, 11 of the Madden NFL 24’s top 25 receivers by yardage were still on their rookie contracts in 2021.
So while we’re going to see contracts balloon at the position for proven talent, we could also see a churn start to effect the position when it comes to the best teams, similar to what we’ve seen at running back — though for different reasons. The popular belief now is that top-tier teams no longer sign rushers to big extensions, instead they let them walk after their rookie contracts, and find another. It’s an unfair system designed to account for running backs breaking down and becoming injury prone. Now we could see that with receivers too, but instead teams will let them walk because of their upcoming payday.
In turn this will place a greater onus on scouting departments that can find Madden NFL 24-ready receivers immediately, so teams can maximize their production on cheap, subsidized rookie contracts — then move on.
While it’s entirely likely we would have seen these contracts rise on their own cheap mut 24 coins naturally, there’s no doubt that Jacksonville’s signing of Christian Kirk expedited the process. Players who would have accepted $80-90M deals are now seeking $120-140M. The yearly impact has gone up from $15M to now approaching $30M. There is no doubt that the agents for Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill mentioned Kirk’s contract in negotiating their new deals, and as a result both Green Bay and Kansas City are weaker teams today as a result.