The Texans general manager was able to lock up young cornerback Derek Stingley Jr. to a massive contract extension on Monday. NFL reporter Adam Schefter broke the news of the three-year deal worth up to $90 million, a significant reset for the cornerback market going forward.
That's bad news for both the Chiefs and New York Jets.
The Houston Texans proved to be the savviest of all the teams facing big pay raises for the secondary.
Both the Jets and Chiefs have the other candidates ready to set new financial highs for the cornerback market when and if they get their extensions done. The Jets have Sauce Gardner. The Chiefs have Trent McDuffie. Together with Stingley, they formed the trio of the NFL's best young corners and each player was entering the phase of his career where a long-term contract extension could finally be discussed.
The Chiefs have made it known that they want to lock up McDuffie to a long-term deal at some point in the near future. General manager Brett Veach hinted that a likely window for such a deal could come after the 2025 NFL Draft in late April and before training camp. That May-June window has been a popular negotiating spot in the calendar for the Chiefs before.
Veach's decision to wait, however, has now cost him in the long run. Stingley's deal averages $30 million annually. It also blows away Jaycee Horn's recent deal with the Carolina Panthers by $17 million guaranteed. There's no way McDuffie's representatives are going to go for a deal that doesn't get the best of Stingley's, which means that K.C. is going to have to climb higher than $30M in potential annual value at this rate.
Perhaps Veach already knew this was going to be the cost of employing one of the brightest young corners in the NFL. After all, a two-time All-Pro in his third NFL season is a franchise pillar, and those players are always going to take up a considerable portion of the salary cap. But perhaps getting ahead of the curve could have shaved off a few million dollars in the process. Now the Texans can claim a minor offseason victory after having been the first to get something done.