There are many subjects in the world of sports and beyond that I would love to address, but unfortunately for me, and maybe fortunately for you, I don’t have unlimited space or time to do so.
Let’s begin with age and contract related questions related to the NFL. The following article was recently posted on msn.com. “Patriots cut four-time Pro Bowler after $63.5M three-year deal lasted just one season.”
The article read in part: “Confetti from Super Bowl LX had barely been swept off the field when the phone call came. Stefon Diggs, the receiver who had just led the New England Patriots through the biggest stage in football, learned the franchise was done with him. Not because he couldn’t play. Not because he’d lost a step. The four-time Pro Bowler had delivered 1,013 receiving yards and helped drag the organization back to relevance. None of it mattered once the accountants opened the spreadsheet.”
The article went on… “Stefon Diggs was officially released by the Patriots on March 11, 2026, ending his one-year tenure with the team. Diggs had signed a three-year, $63.5 million contract with New England last offseason, which included $22.6 million guaranteed and a $12 million signing bonus. By releasing him, the Patriots will save $16.8 million in cap space while incurring a $9.7 million dead cap charge. During the 2025 season, Diggs led the Patriots in receptions (85) and receiving yards (1,013), marking the first 1,000-yard season for a Patriots receiver since Julian Edelman in 2019. Diggs helped the Patriots to reach Super Bowl LX. Despite his strong performance, the Patriots opted not to restructure his contract, in 2026 citing the high cap hit of $26.5 million for 2026 as a limiting factor. The decision to release Diggs was largely financial. This release marks Diggs’ fourth team in four years.”
Check out the stats of New England Patriots QB Drake Maye in 2024 and 2025. In 2024, “Before Diggs” (BD), Drake Maye in his rookie year, along with rookie Head Coach Jerrod Mayo, a Black coach, posted a 3–10 record in games started. He completed 66.6 percent of his passes for 2,276 yards and 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, and a QB rating of 88.
In 2025, “After Diggs” (AD), Maye posted a 14-3 won-loss record. finishing with 31 TDs and 8 interceptions with a 72 percent completion percentage and a QB rating of 113.5. Did Robert Kraft have an ultra-consultation with MAGA before placing Jerod Mayo on the altar as the sacrificial lamb to pay for the hideous rookie season of QB Drake Maye? The excuse for canning Mayo was first theorized that by Mayo being a former inside linebacker for the Patriots, the franchise needed an offensive-minded head coach to groom and mentor their young QB for future seasons.
Wrong! Why? Well, because in 2025, the Patriots hired Mike Vrabel as the new head coach and Vrabel was a former inside and outside linebacker and lined up as an occasional tight end. I was under the impression that they were searching for an offensive guru sort of head coach. Could it be safely assumed that Robert Kraft or one of his surrogates might have been sitting on the garbage cans in the alley, drinking MD-2020 with the dogs and the cats? To give Vrabel some help, the Patriots signed the three-year, $63.5 million deal with wide receiver Stefon Diggs, knowing full well that they only had cap space and cap room for one season. As NFL Hall-of-famer Lawrence Taylor might say, “These rabid foaming at the mouth mad dogs released Stefon Diggs not because he couldn’t play. Not because he’d lost a step.”
On another note, the spreadsheet didn’t matter when it came to giving perverted money to the constantly overpaid, underperforming and often-injured “thrillionaire” NFL QB Kirk Cousins.
Cousins signed with the Washington Redskins in 2012. He signed a four-year rookie contract worth about $2.57 million, including a $472,688 signing bonus. We all know how that venture turned out. Kirk Cousins left the Washington Redskins after the 2017 season due to contract disputes and signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2018. At the time, he agreed to a three-year, fully guaranteed $84 million contract, which made him the highest-paid player on a per-year basis in NFL history. Kirk Cousins left the Minnesota Vikings in 2024 after signing a four-year, $180 million contract with the Atlanta Falcons. His departure followed a season where he suffered a torn Achilles tendon, leading to a mutual decision to part ways. Kirk Cousins has earned more than $267 million in spite of showing the effects of aging and being injured often and nobody is crying 96 tears about cap space or cap hits. The text messages on their phones have to be encrypted. I wonder if we should insist that owners make an appearance on the Karamo show and request that he unlock their phones…
Now, let’s go to the North Shore.
Alex Highsmith arrived in Pittsburgh on July 24, 2020, to begin his NFL career. Highsmith’s base salary is $14.5 million. This figure is part of his four-year, $68 million rookie extension signed in 2023, which includes a $16 million signing bonus and $17.01 million in fully guaranteed money at signing.
This next figure fascinates me. Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Nick Herbig was chosen in the fourth round in 2023. Herbig, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ outside linebacker, recently signed a four-year, $100 million contract extension with the team, which includes $42 million in guaranteed money. The deal was finalized in June 2026 and will keep Herbig in Pittsburgh through the end of the 2030 season. When Herbig arrived he mainly played on special teams, but after he had spot duty as a starter, his role became a bit more prominent. In 2025, T.J. Watt signed a three-year, $123 million extension with the Steelers, making him the highest paid non-quarterback in NFL history! But..this will be the sixth year of Alex Highsmith’s tenure with the Steelers, and he was signed for a four-year, $68 million extension with the Steelers on July 19, 2023. Nick Herbig is one of my favorite players, but he was an understudy to both Watt and Highsmith and in 2026, I will bet Grandma’s last bucket of Christmas chitlins that Alex Highsmith will be one of the first defensive players to be traded in 2026. And it seems like the Steelers don’t want to pay Joey Porter Jr. either. Joey Porter Sr. is wise to the NFL as a former player. I can visualize him advising his son that: “If the rainwater looks and smells weird, don’t let them convince you that although the skies are a clear bright blue, that the rain came early.”