Report: Marcell Dareus earns $60M guaranteed with new extension

The man who said this summer he felt the Buffalo Bills didn’t want him should feel a bit more loved.

First reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, Bills defensive tackle Marcell Dareus signed a six-year contract extension for $100 million that includes a whopping $60 million guaranteed — that’s the most guaranteed money given to a defensive player ever and tied for the fourth-most in NFL history.

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The other four players to earn $60 million or more guaranteed were all quarterbacks. Four other premier defensive players signed major extensions this summer — J.J. Watt, Ndamukong Suh, Gerald McCoy and Justin Houston — but none crossed the $60 million guaranteed threshhold, even though the deals for Suh and Houston are for more total money.

Dareus watched these other players sign big-money deals over the summer and expressed disappointment with his own situation. The Bills offered him a six-year, $90 million deal and he said 

“They’re making it hard,” Dareus said during the preseason. “And it’s just really making me unhappy. I feel like they don’t really want me here.”

Well, they do. To the tune of $10 million more than that “lowbal” offer. And the Bills extended Dareus on good faith, even though he had two arrests last season and that he’ll sit out Week 1 against the Indianapolis Colts serving a one-game suspension.

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One reason they paid him: He’s an exceptional talent. Dareus has made two Pro Bowls in four seasons and was an All Pro selection in 2014, with 10 sacks and performing as an elite run stopper on the Bills’ tremendous defensive line.

The Bills have an interesting salary-cap situation, suddenly with a lot of money invested — four of the team’s five biggest contracts — on the defensive line. One way they can achieve that is because they have less than $6 million invested in the QB position, which was a formula for success for the Seattle Seahawks before they gave Russell Wilson a huge extension.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm