The news broke late on the East Coast, right around 12 a.m., but the historically stingy New England Patriots, at least in terms of offering market-setting player extensions, finally caved to the demands of top cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
Gonzalez’s four years and $135 million in max contract value make him the highest-paid cornerback in NFL history, topping Devon Witherspoon of the Seattle Seahawks and Denzel Ward of the Cleveland Browns. Gonzalez was the latest in what has been a massive surge of 2023 first-round draft picks getting paid in their first year of extension eligibility.
The 2024 draft class is on deck, and the Browns will once again be right in the middle of one of the biggest non-quarterback contract negotiations in NFL history.
Jared Verse isn’t yet on the level of Myles Garrett, Will Anderson, or Micah Parsons — but he’s about to get paid in that tier when he becomes eligible to sign an extension during the 2027 offseason.
The top benchmarks will be Anderson’s $50 million in average annual max value and $100 million fully guaranteed at signing. Those are lofty values for a player with 12 career sacks.
But as Zac Jackson of The Athletic wrote on Tuesday morning, Verse’s extension is coming and the Browns will almost certainly pay him every penny that he’s worth after making the franchise-altering decision to part ways with Garrett on June 1.
“Verse isn’t Garrett. No one is. But Verse is one of the strongest players the Browns have ever employed, and he’s heading toward a mega-extension after the season because the folks in charge believe Verse will be disruptive on the field and be the kind of leader they need in the locker room.”
Jared Verse doesn't need to become Myles Garrett to land his own historic Browns contract
It’s hard to compare the Browns to the Patriots with any level of seriousness, but owner Jimmy Haslam and GM Andrew Berry have been well ahead of the curve when it comes to managing the league’s booming salary cap.
The Patriots had been notorious sticklers with extensions in particular. Gonzalez just became the franchise’s first Day 1 draft pick to receive a second contract since edge defender Dont’a Hightower in 2017.
During the Berry era, the Browns have operated on the opposite end of that spectrum. Cleveland has a strong history of paying its top drafted and developed players. Garrett and Ward both signed multiple market-setting contracts with the team. Just this summer, the Browns locked up safety Grant Delpit, who was entering a contract year.
But Verse could enter the 2027 extension pool in a similar position to Gonzalez, who was a second-team All-Pro in 2024 and a Pro Bowler in 2025. Verse was the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year in 2024 and has two Pro Bowl nods on his resume, but he has yet to be named All-Pro at his stacked position group.
Gonzalez had earned his extension, but he’s not Patrick Surtain. His contract negotiations were reportedly “dead” entering Labor Day Weekend, but he held his ground, refused to fully commit to playing in Week 1 without a new deal, and eventually got exactly what he was bargaining for shortly after the team flight landed in Seattle for the NFL’s season kickoff game.
Verse will be worth every penny himself, but like Jackson wrote, he’s not Garrett. That shouldn’t stop him from pounding the table for a deal that bests Anderson’s benchmark figures of $50 million in AAV and over $100 million fully guaranteed at signing.
Say what you will about the Browns, but they’re probably already planning for what will be a massive commitment to one of the league’s ascending young pass rushers. A breakout, All-Pro-level season would certainly help expedite the process, but the market dictates player contracts, and with no need to pay a quarterback again anytime soon, they're about to be right back in the middle of the NFL's current extension frenzy as soon as the 2026 season ends.
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