The Buffalo Bills were dealt a little bit of a blow via some news out of their nearest NFL neighbor, the Pittsburgh Steelers.
On Wednesday, the Steelers announced a massive contract extension for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick. It’s very much worth noting because of the Bills’ ongoing situation with a safety of their own in Jordan Poyer.
According to Steelers Wire, Pittsburgh inked Fitzpatrick to a new five-year deal. It’s worth worth $84.22 million over five years with $36M of that guaranteed.
Fitzpatrick is now the highest-paid safety in the NFL.
The reason for noting Fitzpatrick’s deal is because players around the league will take note. On occasion, they’ll use other contracts as a price point for their own deals and extensions.
That will certainly be the case with Poyer and the Bills now. Buffalo’s safety has made it well known that he wants an extension from the Bills.
However, we have a few important differences to note.
The biggest thing is age. Fitzpatrick is 25 while Poyer is already 31.
In terms of contract length, it would be surprising to see Poyer land a five-year extension from the Bills. Then again, the team did give pass rusher Von Miller a long-term deal in free agency and he’s 33.
Additionally, while Poyer’s likely been overlooked in his career, he does have only one All-Pro nod which came just last year. Fitzpatrick has two, plus he was a former first-round pick and Pittsburgh traded a Round 1 selection for him in 2019.
There are other factors that will be in play as well–but it’s certain that Poyer’s recently hired new agents will be well aware of Fitzpatrick’s figures as they talk to the Bills.
At least there is one good positive surrounding Poyer this week. He showed up to the Bills’ mandatory minicamp after sitting out OTAs due to the contractual situation.
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