The Colts and RB Nyheim Hines have agreed to a 3-year, $18.6M extension with $12M guaranteed, his agents @ed_waz & @J_App10 tell ESPN.
The $6.2M/year in new money per year makes Hines one of the top 10 highest-paid RBs in the league and ties him to Indy through 2024.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) September 10, 2021
The Colts agreed to a contract extension with versatile running back Nyheim Hines on Friday, and the trickle-down impact will certainly reach Miles Sanders.
Per Field Yates, the 3-year, $18.6 million contract extension with $12 million guaranteed, also includes $6.2 million a year in new money per year making Hines one of the top 10 highest-paid running backs in the league and ties him to Indianapolis through 2024.
A terrific dual-threat running back, Hines was drafted by the Colts in the 4th round, 104th overall of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Over his first three seasons, Hines has logged 893 rushing yards and 1,227 receiving yards, with 13 total touchdowns over that span.
Here’s how that deal impacts Eagles running back Miles Sanders going forward.
1. Highest paid RB's list
Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
The $6.2 million a year in new money per year making Hines one of the top 10 highest-paid running backs in the league, just ahead of the Browns Kareem Hunt according to Over The Cap.
2. Miles Sanders
(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
The Eagles star running back signed a 4 year, $5,350,175 contract with the Eagles in 2019, including a $1,911,036 signing bonus, $2,649,226 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $1,337,544.
A second-round pick, Sanders will earn a base salary of $982,294 in 2021, while carrying a cap hit of $1,461,881 and a dead cap value of $959,174.
Over his first two seasons, Sanders has logged 1,685 rushing yards, 706-yards receiving, and 12 total touchdowns.
3. Impact and projections
(AP Photo/Rich Schultz)
As a 2019 second-round pick, the Eagles don’t have the luxury of a fifth-year option for Sanders and he’ll certainly be a 2023 unrestricted free agent unless he’s extended. Using the franchise tag on Sanders would cost the Eagles between $12M-$16M, while a fair value extension would be less taxing on the salary cap.
From a production and value standpoint alone, Sanders’ first two years of work should get him a fair deal that averages somewhere in between the $6.1 million per year Austin Ekeler earns from the Chargers, up towards the $8 million per year that Melvin Gordon is getting from the Broncos.
If Sanders can finally amass the 1,000-yard rushing mark in 2021, he could force Howie Roseman to act sometime next offseason. A huge 2021 and monster 2022 season for Sanders could force Philadelphia into the $12 million per season that Nick Chubbs (Browns), Joe Mixon (Bengals), Derrick Henry (Titans), Aaron Jones (Packers), and Dalvin Cook (Vikings) all make.
Final Observation
Sanders has made it clear that he wants to pattern his game like the versatile Christian McCaffrey and if he performs like the Panthers star, he’ll join Nick Chubb, Saquon Barkley, and Josh Jacobs as the next star running backs to get paid.
The Saints and Vikings made both Kamara and Cook wait and although both players got $15+ million signing bonuses.
Howie Roseman, already in salary cap hell, should strike early as he normally does and ink Sanders to a four or five-year deal, in the $40 million to $45 million range, making both parties happy and allowing the former Penn State star to get another deal by the age of 27.
What Roseman and Eagles don’t want to happen is for Sanders to continue to ascend and eventually pass some of his contemporaries like Saquon Barkley and Josh Jacobs, thus setting Philadelphia up to be the next organization to totally reset the running back market.
