It doesn’t get more American sports ‘journalism’ than endless rankings and lists from mainstream sports outlets. Even NFL Network is milking their “NFL Top 100” over a few days right now. To no surprise, ESPN has a new list of their own out today with their 2021 NFL All-Value Team.
According to ESPN the team is built as follows:
The following lineup is built from the league’s shrewdest deals — the ones that provide the most bang and the least potential downside for the buck. Many are contracts a player signed before he achieved stardom. A few are one-year prove-it deals with veterans who are likely to prove a whole lot in 2021. Some simply pass the cost-benefit analysis eyeball test: right player, right position and better-than-right price. None of them are rookie contracts, however. That would just be a boring list of up-and-coming superstars waiting to get paid.
The list has stars like Tom Brady and lesser-known names like Chidobe Awuzie. There’s one Minnesota Viking on the list, and it’s probably the one you expect but there’s more to the story than what can fit in one small segment of a larger-scope article.
Here’s what the sports leader wrote about Eric Kendricks’ spot as one of the two linebackers on NFL’s 2021 team:
When the Vikings signed Kendricks to this five-year extension way back in 2018, they backloaded it with base salaries in the final years that appeared hefty at the time, including $8.15 million in 2021 and $9.15 million over the next two years. The Vikings were both trying to save short-term cap space and counting upon cap increases that would make Kendricks’ figures more manageable.
And they could not have planned it any better. Kendricks now provides Pro Bowl-caliber play for much less money than peers such as Fred Warner, Bobby Wagner and Zach Cunningham will make on the deals they signed more recently. It’s further proof that it pays for a team to sign an up-and-coming player before he becomes a big name or hits the free-agent market.
Yes, Kendricks is on a very team-friendly deal and is a premier LB, but there are downsides. We saw it with Danielle Hunter this offseason.
Joey Bosa got a massive five-year $135 million contract and then Hunter held out, and outside of his neck injury, I’d argue rightfully so. All it would take for Kendricks to make a very similar business decision is another inside LB getting an extension akin to Bosa’s deal. We saw what the LB position, albeit outside LB, can demand with Indianapolis Colts’ Darius Leonard’s new shiny deal.
Leonard got an extension worth up to $99.25 million over five years, and while he is more of a pass rusher, Kendricks is definitely the premier pass-coverage LB in the NFL. Kendricks was the second-ranked LB for coverage in 2020 and the sixth overall, per PFF. If any inside LB is going to break the bank, it will be him.
The Vikings got lucky they extended him when they did but ESPN wrote this as proof that teams should sign up-and-coming players before they are superstars. Uh-huh, that’s always been the case so nothing new here, but Kendricks still hasn’t gotten the recognition he deserves.
Kendricks only has one Pro Bowl (2019) nod and one All-Pro (2019) nomination. 2019 was arguably the best season of his career, but Kendricks had an even better coverage rating in 2020, but with no Pro Bowl. He has been a stellar all-around MLB since his sophomore season in 2016.
Kendricks has three years left of his $10 million/year contract and considering he is the 28th highest paid LB (including outside LBs) it’s paramount the Vikings extend him within the next two seasons. Knowing Bosa’s contract was likely the catalyst for Hunter’s woes, it only makes sense that one extension around the league could force Kendricks to hold out if he doesn’t get extended ASAP.
