The best deals in the NFL are usually the ones that are done proactively. With a skyrocketing salary cap and the constant influx in more revenue sharing streams across the league, it is widely accepted that the longer you wait, the more you pay. As a result, the teams that can proactively assess their talent and pay accordingly have an inside track in this regard to roster construction.

So which teams got the right jump on the right new deals in 2025?

Here are five contract extensions that, based on the trajectory of league spending, the player’s individual play performance, and the compensation of their peers, got outstanding value on new long-term deals this offseason.

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QB Josh Allen, $55 million AAV

$55 million per season is bargain? Hear me out. Allen signed a six-year, $330 million contract extension this offseason, marking the next big quarterback contract extension struck after Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys re-set the quarterback market the previous fall on a deal that featured a $60 million annual average figure. Nearly all of that contract was practically guaranteed, too. I don’t think anyone would argue that Prescott is a better quarterback than Josh Allen, so seeing Allen’s annual average figure check in five million dollars below what Prescott got from the Cowboys underscores two things:

1. Dak fleeced Jerry
2. The Bills got a bargain based on the market trend

Both can be true at the same time. Allen deciding not to push the ceiling even higher should allow the Bills to stay competitive with the roster around him.

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WR Rashod Bateman, $12.25 million AAV

Bateman was one of the surprise extensions of this offseason, given that he’d just signed a two-year deal in 2024. He was reportedly the center of some trade talks but the Ravens ultimately decided to “zag” instead of “zig” when the cards were down. His three-year, $36.75 million extension after a breakout season in 2024 should have the Ravens optimistic that he can continue to level up his game and be a value in the process. He doesn’t have WR1 numbers but few do that have to play alongside Derrick Henry, Mark Andrews, Zay Flowers, and Isaiah Likely.

It should not surprise is Bateman continues to mature and we look back on this deal a year from now believing he is an incredible steal, especially amid other free agent receivers like Dyami Brown, Tutu Atwell and Josh Palmer all getting $10 million per season from other teams this offseason.

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OT Zach Tom, $22 million AAV

Tom got the least of the three extensions this summer between himself, Bernhard Raimann and Rashawn Slater. But Tom is arguably the most position flexible of all three — he could play any of the five spots along the offensive line if the Packers needed him to. Thankfully they don’t, but it should be considered added hidden value for a unit with unique needs for positional flexibility. Tom is also nearly two years younger than Raimann, so he should be playing through more of the prime of his career on a lower valued contract.

Amid the ongoing race to find out which offensive tackle is going to hit $30 million per year first, Tom coming in to the 2025 season with the 11th-ranked annual average salary of any offensive tackle is a bargain considering the ink still isn’t dry on this deal.

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EDGE George Karlaftis, $22 million AAV

Let me get this straight. 24-year-old George Karlaftis just signed a four-year, $88 million contract extension after averaging more than eight sacks per season through his first three years and posting 159 pressures in the last two seasons, including the playoffs? And while this extension was happening, we were watching J.J. Watt and Myles Garrett, who are both at least five years older, pushing for nearly double the money?

That’s no shade at Watt and Garrett, either. They’re phenomenal. But Karlaftis may look back on this deal and wish he’d waited another year, given that he had two years of player control left on his rookie contract when he put pen to paper on this one.

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CB Christian Benford, $17.25 million AAV

I really do wonder what the narrative around Christian Benford would be if he wasn’t a late-Day 3 draft choice out of Villanova. If he had a first-round pedigree, would he be talked about more highly than a player that got zero votes from over 70 league executives for the top-10 best corners in football?

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The contract extension could help raise his profile but it’s another great dealing of business for the Bills. His $17.25 million annual average is less than Paulson Adebo, Carlton Davis, and Charvarius Ward all got on the open market this spring and is nearly one-third less than what the Carolina Panthers gave Jaycee Horn after one healthy season as a former first-round pick. I’d take Benford on his deal over all those names at their respective prices.

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