Browns confirm four-year contract extension with LB Jamie Collins

Monday evening, the Cleveland Browns confirmed that they have signed LB Jamie Collins to a four-year contract extension. The extension will keep Collins with the club through 2021.

Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network reported the details of the extension:

CB Joe Haden's contract has an average salary of $13.5 million per year. Collins’ per year salary would be $12.5 million, which puts him second on the team, ahead of LT Joe Thomas’ $11.5 million average.

The $26 million in guarantees is viewed as the big portion of the deal, but something that is worth it. The comparable deal is that of the Panthers' Luke Kuechly, who is, in my estimation, the best inside linebacker in the NFL. In 2015, Kuechly signed a 5-year deal worth $61.8 million and $34.4 million guaranteed. Kuechly’s average salary per year is $12.36 million. Considering that we’re two years later and Collins got less guaranteed money, I would say that he got a lesser deal than Kuechly.

By it only being a four-year deal, though, it allows Collins to hit the free agent market again when he is 30 years old, which is just in time for him to earn another lucrative contract — either from the Browns or another NFL team. Former Browns CEO Joe Banner tipped his hat to the Browns for the value they got, but he also thinks Collins’ agent made a mistake by not getting more once free agency started:

This is a great sign for the Browns moving forward. Even though I thought Collins’ effort was so-so at times after he was acquired from the Patriots, I think it’s understandable that he’d be a little “off” after going from the best team in the league (Patriots) to the worst (Browns). And, after extending Collins, they should still have well over $90 million in cap space to spend this offseason.

Cleveland’s next mission? Work on contract extensions for WR Terrelle Pryor and RB Isaiah Crowell.