Trey McBride’s new deal made him the highest-paid tight end in football for a brief stretch last offseason, and now the Arizona Cardinals star has revealed just how far apart the two sides were before they got there.
On the Bussin With The Boys podcast, McBride said the Cardinals initially came in well below the four-year, $76 million contract he eventually signed. In fact, he said the first number he heard was only $64 million over four years - and even that felt like a massive jump before the talks kept moving.
"I remember going through the whole process of getting the new contract. I kind of knew I was gonna sign a big one, and I just remember I was at home, and my agent called me.
I ended up signing for $76 million. At the time, it was like, hey, we got four [years] for $64 million which was $16 million a year, and I was like, f--- dude, $64 million, Oh my god," he said.
"... I'm like, dude, let's lock it in, $64 million.
That's life changing. He's like, nah, bro, we're not f----- doing that, Like, what?
You sure it's not gonna go anywhere? And it was just cool to finally end up signing that big deal, to be higher than Travis Kelce, George Kittle at the time, whoever was up there, it was pretty cool to sign that deal."
McBride said Arizona’s first offer was even lower than that.
"The first offer, it was actually way lower, it was like $12 million. The Cardinals are a tough deal," he continued.
He also made clear that he had a number in mind throughout the process. McBride said he wanted to be the highest-paid tight end at the time, and while the deal eventually got to $19 million annually, he was aiming for $20 million.
"I was like, 'yeah, it might not be the Cardinals, maybe I go somewhere else. Maybe I play my last year and kind of explore my options, and then they just they finally wanted to get it done.
I knew I wanted to be the highest paid at the time, and Travis was at $17 million, and we got to $19 million. I really wanted $20 million. $20 million was the number I really wanted, but we couldn't get them up to it."
That $19 million annual average still put McBride at the top of the position for a moment before George Kittle nudged past him by $100,000 per year. Even so, the Cardinals’ opening number would have landed far down the tight end market; McBride noted that $12 million a year would have tied for 10th among tight ends entering this season.
In the end, the gap between the sides was exactly what you’d expect in a contract negotiation: the team started low, the player aimed high, and both sides met somewhere in the middle. McBride got the extension he wanted, and Arizona locked up one of its biggest weapons.
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