Jaylon Smith Contract Details Following Extension With Cowboys

Jaylon Smith has secured the bag.

The Dallas Cowboys linebacker is suddenly one of the highest-paid players at his position in the history of football, inking a deal that totally revamps his former contract due to expire in 2020. It locks him into six years at nearly $70 million if you include the upcoming season.

Jaylon Smith’s extension w/ the #Cowboys is actually a 6 year, $68.4M new money deal, but it’s heavily backloaded. Smith is set to earn $26M over the next three seasons, $19M fully guaranteed at signing & rolling guarantees thereafter.

Full Details: https://t.co/8xsZFHvosP
— Spotrac (@spotrac) August 21, 2019

Jaylon Smith Deal Breakdown

Smith's new contract comes with an average annual value of $11.4 million (if you include the 2019 season), though he won't see a proper windfall until its latter half. He gets a $5 million signing bonus, but a base salary of just $835,678 next season. He won't make eight figures of base salary in a single season until the final three years of the deal, topping off at $12.35 million in its last season, 2025.

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‪Here is the contract extension details for Jaylon Smith 5 years, $64 million and $35.5 million guaranteed and how it looks like with the current year on his new deal. Photo credit goes to Dallas Cowboys Report and Chat Sports (@chatsports) on YouTube.‬

A post shared by ?✭ Cowboy X Factor (@cowboyxfactor) on Aug 21, 2019 at 5:36am PDT

All told, just over $35 million is guaranteed in the deal. Notably, there's a potential out following the 2021 season.

Jaylon Smith's #Cowboys contract extension details, per @spotrac. Note the potential out after the 2021 season. pic.twitter.com/zud3msff2w
— Sam Dunn (@RealFakeSamDunn) August 21, 2019

Is this Bobby Wagner money? No, that would require a healthy NFL-record $18 million per year and noticeably larger guarantees. But it's a truly handsome payday for an off-ball linebacker, and a headache the Cowboys front office no longer has to deal with.