Detail of Ezra Cleveland new contract revealed it’s a bargain for Jaguars – $24 million and not 28 million
It has been claimed that offensive lineman Ezra Cleveland signed a significantly cheaper contract than the original three-year, $28.5 million pact.
It was disclosed on Thursday night by Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk that the contract is actually a three-year, $24 million agreement with an additional $3.5 million possible through incentives. More than The Cap supported that claim with an analysis of the contract that demonstrates how inexpensive it will be for the Jaguars.
The important details to know are that
In 2024, Cleveland’s salary cap will be $3,591,176; in 2025, it will be $5.2 million; and in 2026, it will rise to $9.95 million. The agreement will also automatically invalidate after the 2026 season, meaning there will be a $5.2 million dead money hit in 2027.
For the Jaguars, cutting ties with Cleveland in the next two years is not really an option because doing so would result in large dead money penalties. However, in order to free up $2.55 million (or $7.75 million with a post-June 1 designation) in contract space, Jacksonville might release Cleveland in the 2026 offseason.
For the offensive lineman to receive the maximum salary of $27.5 million, Cleveland would need to play 90 percent of the offensive snaps against the Jaguars and the club would need to make the playoffs three years in a row.
Cleveland will represent less than two percent of the Jaguars salary cap through the 2025 campaign, with his $8.8 million in cap hits over the course of the next two years combined.
