Pro Football Focus may not have been impressed with the Tennessee Titans’ five-year, $82.5 million contract handed out to former Pittsburgh Steelers edge rusher Bud Dupree—they named it one of the worst deals handed out this offseason—but they felt the opposite about the contract that another former Steeler, offensive lineman Matt Feiler, received.
Tip of the cap for these signings 💪 pic.twitter.com/b8MrUnUrUu
— PFF (@PFF) March 19, 2021
The fifth-year veteran signed a three-year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers after spending the first four years of his career with the Steelers on a deal worth a total of $21 million, and which has a pretty healthy structure in his favor. A lot of Steelers fans wouldn’t seem to agree with them, but here it is, graded ‘Above Average’:
The Chargers make their second significant addition to the offensive line today by signing Feiler. He has started at two positions — right tackle in 2019 and left guard in 2020 — during his past two years in Pittsburgh, and he’s finished each of those seasons among the top half of players at the positions in PFF grade. He could theoretically start at either tackle or guard for Los Angeles, but guard seems like the more likely of the two given the Chargers’ depth at both positions.
Even if Feiler does end up at guard, his average-per-year figure slots in below the top tier at the position. Plus, it comes with the added bonus of him being able to kick outside should an injury occur or pieces shuffle along the offensive line. This is the type of move that Los Angeles should be making: adding quality starters on mid-level deals to eliminate clear weaknesses up front.
To their credit, the site has been high on Feiler being an underrated value signing. There aren’t a lot of ‘budget’ linemen who give you starting experience at multiple positions who actually earned that starting experience and weren’t just injury fill-ins.
For what it’s worth, the site felt the four-year, $24 million contract Mike Hilton signed with the Cincinnati Bengals was only average, in spite of the fact that they have churned out pieces for years presenting the argument that he deserves to be paid like one of the top slot corners—and now he is.
“Hilton is a promising young player who just turned 27 despite being in the league since 2016, and this deal is a phenomenal value for him at a position that had been completely devalued in recent years”, he piece reads on his deal.
“Prominent slot cornerbacks Mackensie Alexander and Nickell Robey-Coleman, among others, all signed one-year contracts for $4 million or less last offseason with a far healthier salary cap situation league-wide. Yet, Hilton was able to land a multi-year deal at a $6 million per year price point”.
