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The Cardinals Are Making Trey McBride the Highest-Paid TE in NFL History
The Arizona Cardinals Have Signed McBride to a 4-Year, $76M Extension
One of the Biggest Talents of the NFL
While teams have shifted their focus to the draft, the NFL news still has some notable cases of teams re-signing their best players so that they don’t have to pay them even more later if they wait.
The latest such move is the Arizona Cardinals making Trey McBride the highest-paid tight end in NFL history. McBride, 25, is set to stay in Arizona through 2029 on a 4-year extension worth $76 million.
That’s $19 million per season for an elite tight end who led his team in targets (147), catches (111), and receiving yards (1,146) last season. When the going rate for a top-tier No. 2 wide receiver is over $28 million, as evident by the deals for Jayden Waddle (Dolphins) and Tee Higgins (Bengals), this kind of money for McBride sounds like a bargain.
The contract follows in the footsteps of recent NFL deals that reset the markets, including the Eagles making Saquon Barkley the highest-paid running back in history and the Broncos making Patrick Surtain II the highest-paid defensive back in history.
However, with NFL rumors of the salary cap continuing to rise, this kind of money is reasonable for a player like McBride.
BIG. PLAY. TREY. pic.twitter.com/MnqefxqpEs
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) April 3, 2025
McBride Is the New Elite Class
The tight end position is such a massive advantage in the NFL, but finding a top-tier player for it is difficult. But when you find the right one, not only can that help you match up an incredible athlete against linebackers and safeties for easier completions, but they don’t cost as much as top-tier wide receivers, too.
Is it just a coincidence that the NFL’s last two dynasties featured a tight end as the dominant pass catcher in Rob Gronkowski (Patriots) and Travis Kelce (Chiefs)? Those players provided huge value to their teams both on the field and with the salary cap.
But Kelce is going on 36 and is expected to retire after the 2025 season. George Kittle is getting old, too. That’s why Trey McBride and Brock Bowers (Raiders) are going to be the new faces of the elite tight ends in the NFL.
McBride has a little bit of Gronk in him with his great catch radius. He’s also freakishly athletic after the catch, a la Kittle and Kelce. More people would be aware of this if he played for a more successful, more marketed team than the Cardinals, who don’t usually fare well in people’s NFL picks and predictions.
Trey McBride jumping over finely tuned athletic machines
— Ian Hartitz (@Ihartitz) April 3, 2025
If there is a weakness in McBride’s game, it would be that he isn’t used as a major threat in the red zone. In fact, he has just six touchdown catches on 221 career receptions in Arizona. His 2024 season defied all betting odds and was trending historically when it took him 98 receptions before he caught his first touchdown catch in the next-to-last game of the year.
On his 98th catch of the year, Trey McBride gets his first TD!
📺: #AZvsLAR on NFL Network
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/vaEpSTZawt— NFL (@NFL) December 29, 2024
However, this weakness could also just be a flaw in Kyler Murray, one of the shortest quarterbacks in NFL history, and how he performs in the red zone with condensed space and tighter throwing windows.
But McBride is a superstar tight end, and now he is getting paid like one. Throw in some second-year improvement for Marvin Harrison Jr., and this duo can help Arizona win more NFL games in 2025.
