The Indianapolis Colts exercised their fifth-year contract option on quarterback Andrew Luck on Thursday. He's one of three players in the 2012 draft class to reportedly have his option picked up alongside outside linebacker Melvin Ingram and offensive lineman David DeCastro. Since the rookie wage scale was implemented in 2011, all first-round picks now have a fifth-year option built into the standard four-year contract players sign.
Robert Griffin III, Luke Kuechly among candidates for 5th-year option pickups
Teams have begun exercising fifth-year options for their 2012 first-round draft picks. Who will be next?
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Teams were able to exercise fifth-year options once the 2014 regular season came to a close, and have until May 3, the day after the conclusion of the 2015 NFL Draft. The fifth year is guaranteed for injury, and becomes fully guaranteed on the first day of the league year. Players taken in the top 10 will be paid the transition tender for that player's position, while players selected outside of the top 10 will earn the average of the third through 25th-highest salaries at their position.
With most positions, we’re talking about a few million dollars in difference, but it’s still a healthy sum regardless. Luck, a top-10 pick, will earn $16.155 million for the 2016 season, while Ingram, who was taken with the No. 18 overall pick, will make $7.751 million, according to CBS Sports.
But who else will get their option exercised? This is still a relatively new concept in the NFL and teams are still trying to determine what the best strategy is with it. Below, we’ll take a look at some big-name players and whether the fifth-year option makes sense for them.
The thought of Griffin actually getting a massive one-season pay raise from Washington -- a team in which two head coaches have benched him since he was made the No. 2 overall pick -- seems absurd. But Griffin is the starter for now, and if Washington doesn’t end up getting a rookie quarterback to take over and be the new franchise guy, things get interesting.
A bounce-back year in 2015 could re-secure Griffin's spot as the franchise quarterback. At this point, though, it looks more like Washington will do what the Tennessee Titans did with Jake Locker last offseason and decline the option. If Griffin does take charge and becomes the franchise quarterback next season, the franchise tag is always an option for 2016 -- said tag would only pay Griffin around $3 million more than he'd be entitled to with this option.
Claiborne has been derailed by injuries for most of 2014. Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said the 2012 No. 6 pick had done enough to warrant picking up his option, but such a move has not been made at this point.
Claiborne has a high ceiling, and would have been given a chance to show that in 2014 had a ruptured patellar tendon not thrown things off track. As a top-10 pick, Claiborne’s 2016 salary would be prohibitively high -- $11.082 million -- so it doesn’t necessarily make sense for the Cowboys if they feel like extending him on the cheap is a feasible option in the near future.
The Miami Dolphins have made it clear that they want to get a long-term deal done with Tannehill, and it certainly seems as though this is the direction things are headed in. But with no deal in place just yet and the deadline less than a month away, the Dolphins have some decisions to make. Tannehill is Miami's franchise quarterback, but he's not quite on the level of Luck and other quarterbacks making -- or set to make -- a boatload of money on massive contracts.
Since Tannehill was the No. 8 overall pick in 2012, his fifth-year option would be for the same amount of Luck’s, but neither Tannehill nor the Dolphins have enjoyed the amount of success that Luck has had in Indianapolis. If and when the Dolphins get Tannehill signed to a long-term deal, he won’t be making that much per season. That said, if a deal is not done by the deadline, the Dolphins have said they will exercise the option, which makes sense as they’d then have a whole year to try and work out a long-term deal with some leverage.
Kuechly is practically a sure thing when it comes to this option. The Carolina Panthers cannot let him go under any circumstances, and they're still working on a new deal for 2011 first overall pick Cam Newton, who is playing under his own fifth-year option in 2015. So Kuechly likely has to wait for Newton, but he'll almost certainly get a long-term deal at some point. The fifth-year option would give the Panthers some breathing room and it seems like only a matter of time before the team uses it to lock down one of the best linebackers in the NFL.
The Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle is in an unenviable position, at least as far as his draft placement goes. Poe has been a consistently great performer for the Chiefs, and a long-term deal is certainly on the table. But as the No. 11 overall pick in 2012, Poe's fifth-year option number is $6.146 million as opposed to $9.314 million. One pick equals a swing of over $3 million, and he's certainly worth both numbers, so the Chiefs picking up the option seems likely.
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