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The Bills did what they had to do and eventually gave receiver Stefon Diggs a new contract, more than two years after acting for him. As always, the value of this new contract will not be known until the actual contract shows up.
We know this routine by now; We’ve been banging this drum for well over a decade. The agent sends basic details to the cabal of reporters constantly connected to Twitter, and they then do a thumbs-up to see who can publish it FIRST!
The truth is usually the victim. The agent has every reason to push a made-up value of the deal as this supports the agent’s efforts to acquire new customers. The player benefits from having the wrong numbers out there because it puts them higher in position on the various lists of top paid players. The reporters, who see this dynamic as an occupational hazard, don’t ask if the numbers are real, because hesitating loses.
The truth in these matters takes time. The contracts must be entered into the databases that allow the actual figures to be collected from those who then publish them. More often than not, the deal isn’t worth as much as it’s reported, either literally or for practical reasons.
Diggs has a different twist. Two of the first reports from competing infobots are contradictory. ESPN’s Adam Schefter calls it a four-year, $104 million extension. Ian Rapoport is calling it a four-year, $96 million extension, with more incentives available. The difference on an annual basis is significant. Diggs will receive either $26 million per year in new money (Schefter version) or $24 million per year in new money (Rapoport version).
Schefter also calls it a six-year, $124.1 million deal from signing. How real is this contract? As always, the full details will reveal the truth. (Case in case — the Bills recently signed Von Miller to a six-year, $120 million deal. It’s actually a three-year, $52.5 million deal.)
Here’s the best example related to the highest paid recipients why it’s important to wait for the details before assessing the true value of a contract. Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill’s contract continues to be touted as an average $30 million-a-year deal. However, to reach that number, the Dolphins added a fake last season for a total of $45 million in compensation. That doesn’t make the renewal worth $30 million a year, but $25 million.
Or in other words, halfway between the two competing versions of the value of the new money in the Diggs deal. Until, of course, the full contract can be properly evaluated. As soon as the numbers are available, it will be ready. By then it will be too late to make many care about the truth.