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The Green Bay Packers have two of their key offensive players heading into contract years, and they both play wide receiver. Randall Cobb and Jordy Nelson are on of the NFL's top WR-duos, but both will see their deals expire at the end of the 2014 season.
That is, until Nelson signed a long-term deal with the Packers today, according to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport:
#Packers WR Jordy Nelson averages $9.76M on his new deal, which is a large upgrade. He gets an $11.5M signing bonus. Well-deserved
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) July 26, 2014
#Packers and Jordy Nelson agree on a 4-year extension worth $39 million w/ $14.2m guaranteed. #Cowboys and Dez Bryant now up to the plate.
— Jared Sandler (@jsandlerESPN) July 26, 2014
Nelson was reportedly seeking a deal that would pay him an annual salary of $10 million. It looks like he came close to getting that, and got a nice $14 million guaranteed to go with it. He has said that he left money on the table when he signed a three-year, $12.6 million extension following his brilliant Super Bowl run in 2011.
Before signing the extension in 2011, Nelson had never gone over 600 yards in a season or caught more than two touchdown passes, but the 2010-11 run to the Super Bowl asw Nelson explode onto the scene.
In the three seasons since signing the extension, Nelson has averaged 1,107 receiving yards and 10 TDs. In 20123, Nelson recorded a career-high 1,314 yards, despite not having Aaron Rodgers for almost half the season.
As for the Cincinnati Bengals, they still need to get AJ Green signed to a contract extension, and seeing a guy like Nelson get almost $10 million annually has him salivating at the though of what his first big extension will look like.