What to expect for Jayon Brown‘s contract in 2021.
Jayon Brown, like many of the recent Tennessee Titans draft picks, has been outplaying his contract for a couple of years now.
This has been great for the Titans and the ascension of Brown and fellow linebacker Rashaan Evans has accelerated Tennessee’s expectations of success.
The hidden benefit to this success is that it allowed the Titans to use their money elsewhere while their defense is anchored by players on rookie contracts. That will all change after the 2020 season, though because this upcoming season is the last that Jayon Brown will play on his rookie contract.
The Titans won’t be able to keep Jayon Brown for cheap. It’s going to cost, and I’m sure Jon Robinson and the Titans are aware of that.
Having good middle linebackers is key to defensive success in the NFL just look at defenses like the San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Buffalo Bills all of which are anchored by strong LB play.
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In 2018, Jayon Brown started 9 games and finished with a pick-six, 6 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 8 tackles for loss. It was an amazing season for Brown and really solidified him as one of the main pieces on the Titans defense going forward. When you take into account that Jayon Brown’s cap hit in 2018 was only $622,888, you realize how good of a cap value he has actually been.
Injuries caused Brown’s production to dip in 2019, he only had one interception, one sack, and 3 tackles for loss. Still, he was a great value in cap last season considering he only cost the team $712,888.
Even after a production dip, people are still high on Jayon Brown. We all know that a players impact can go much further than the stat sheet. PFF ranked Brown as the 5th best coverage linebacker in the NFL last season.
Brown has been a great salary cap value every time that he has gotten an opportunity. I would expect no less in 2020, although his cap hit jumps to a little over $2 million.
How much will he ask for?
Even without seeing Jayon Brown play in 2020, you can confidently say that his contract won’t be cheap in the 2021 offseason.
To get a good gauge of what he might ask for, let’s see what some of the top linebackers in the NFL are making.
Bobby Wagner and CJ Mosely are the top, making $18 million and $17 million per year, respectively. Myles Jack is making just over $14 million per year with the Jacksonville Jaguars. Blake Martinez just got paid by the Giants, he’s making just over $10 million per year.
If Jayon Brown solidifies himself as one of the elite middle linebackers in the game as some think he will, he could easily command close to $14 or $15 million per year. I think that would be a fair deal for him if he puts together another season like 2018 when he was fully healthy.
But, if he doesn’t quite take the next step and this is his peak then I would expect him to be anywhere from $12 to $13 million, which is the going rate for a young, rangy linebacker.
Either way, the Titans won’t get Jayon Brown for cheap, unless he wants to play on a team-friendly deal thanks to a combination of a potential cap decrease, familiarity with the defense, taxes in Tennessee vs elsewhere, and a sense of loyalty to the team that took a chance on him.