The veteran safety has inked a new deal.
Ahead of their third training camp practice on Friday, news broke that the New England Patriots had signed safety Jabrill Peppers to a contract extension. Head coach Jerod Mayo confirmed the report during a press conference shortly thereafter.
Joining the likes of defensive tackle Christian Barmore, linebacker Jahlani Tavai, center David Andrews, and running back Rhamondre Stevenson, Peppers is now the latest member of the team to sign a new deal with the Patriots this offseason. What does this particular one mean for New England from a big-picture perspective, though? Let’s assess.
The starting safeties are locked up for the future
The Patriots entered the 2024 offseason with some uncertainty surrounding their safety position. Kyle Dugger was entering unrestricted free agency, with Peppers heading into the final year of his own contract.
Fast forward four-and-a-half months and both players are now signed for the foreseeable future: Dugger put his signature under a four-year, $58 million extension in April, with Peppers now agreeing to a three-year, $24 million pact. This means that both of New England’s starting safeties are now locked up through the 2027 season.
They will both be 31 and 32, respectively, the next time free agency comes around for them.
The Patriots invest in leadership and proven ability
Ever since joining the Patriots on a one-year free agency pact in 2022, Peppers has been one of their top players on either side of the ball. A reliable, hard-hitting defender, he has played arguably the best football of his career the last two seasons. Along the way, he managed to prove his value to the operation both on and off the field.
Peppers, after all, is not just a core member of their secondary whose versatility and knack for the football show up regularly. He also is a tone-setter and potential future team captain.
New England is not breaking the bank
While the full details of Peppers’ new extension are not yet available, the initial numbers reported give us some feel for the deal. And what they tell us is that it makes for comparatively modest investment: whereas Dugger’s contract averages $14.5 million over four years, Peppers’ checks in at $8 million — 15th highest among all NFL safeties.
How exactly it will impact New England’s salary cap in 2024 and beyond remains to be seen. Salary cap expert Miguel Benzan does expect it to include a few specific elements:
Expect Jabrill Peppers’ extension to contain the following structure elements.
1. Fully guaranteed salaries for the 2024 and 2025 seasons
2. A small amount of 2026 salary fully guaranteed
3. Active roster bonuses
4. Offseason workout bonuses
5. Incentives
6. 6M+ signing bonus— Patscap (@patscap) July 26, 2024
At the moment, Peppers carries a salary cap number of $6.47 million. That number will change, simply due to the addition of a new signing bonus prorated over the remainder of the pact.
The 2025 free agency class keeps getting smaller
At one point during the offseason, the Patriots had upwards of 40 players headed for free agency next spring. That number has come down a bit, even though a significant portion of the current roster is effectively playing on a one-year deal in 2024.
With Peppers now off the list, though, the most prominent names on it include the likes of Matthew Judon, Davon Godchaux, Deatrich Wise Jr. and Jonathan Jones. Judon and Godchaux in particular look like extension candidates, even though there has been little movement on that particular front recently. However, both did report for training camp.