Elijah Molden signed a new three-year contract with the LA Chargers worth up to $18.75 million with $13.5 million guaranteed. While the Chargers' urge to bring Molden back into the fold after a breakout season wasn't a surprise, the numbers of the contract certainly popped of the page.
An $18.75 million total contract value puts Molden's average annual value at $6.25 million. That's a figure that beats the extension the Alohi Gilman agreed to last year at $5.1 million AAV. Molden's new contract figures also beat what most industry evaluators expected him to get in free agency.
PFF's free-agent rankings projected that Molden would get a one-year deal worth up to $4.5 million. Not only did Molden get more guaranteed years than projected, but his AAV beats that deal by nearly $2 million.
Elijah Molden's new contract foreshadows Chargers spending more on other free agents
Of course, the takeaway from that should be that the former Titans' safety impressed both the league and the Chargers in his first season in LA. But it's also worth pointing out that just a day before Molden signed his extension, the NFL announced that the salary cap increase for 2025 will beat industry expectations.
Each team will have between $277.5 and $281.5 million in cap space with an exact figure to be determined soon. OverTheCap had initially projected $272.5 million in cap space and has now updated their projection to $279.5 million.
That brings the Chargers' cap space up to $70 million for 2025 prior to the details of the first year cap hit for the Molden coming into the picture.
While the Chargers will have more flexibility, their internal free agents could now cost more to retain. Here were PFF's other Chargers' internal free agent contract projections prior to both the increased salary cap and Molden's extension:
- EDGE Khalil Mack: 2 years, $45 million ($40 million guaranteed)
- CB Asante Samuel Jr: 3 years, $43.5 million ($26.5 million guaranteed)
- RB J.K. Dobbins: 2 years, $7 million ($4 million guranteed)
- DT Poona Ford: 1 year, $3.5 million ($1.5 million guranteed)
- DT Teair Tart: 1 year, $2.5 million ($1.25 million guaranteed)
After Molden signed a contract well over his projection, and with an inflated cap, it is safe to say these projections are on the extreme low end this offseason.
As NFL teams across the league now have more money to spend, it could also lead to an increase in financial evaluations of all external free agents the Chargers could consider pursuing. But when it comes to some of their first priority re-signings both before and during March, LA could have to spend more money than initially thought to keep key 2024 players on next year's roster.