Originally Posted by
Craic
His first year with the Steelers was a wash. In 2018, he was 13th in the league for yards per reception. 21st in the league for catch percentage at 69.4 percent, and tied for 9th in the league for TDs (all TEs with 20 or more receptions). This year is a bit of a misnomer with the QB situation, but he was tied for 19th in the league for TDs, 30th in the league for Catch percent at 69.1, and 62nd in the league for yards per reception.
If we consider last year a bit of an aberration due to the QB situation (although his catch percentage remained the same), based on his 2018 year, there's reason to expect him to perform quite a bit above NFL minimum. However, he's also age 30 by the time next season starts. He's not going to outplay his 2018 year by much if he does at all.
This coming year, he'll have a cap value of 7.13 million (rounded off, of course). That puts him as the 12th highest paid TE in the league. Personally, I think pay-wise, giving a little grace for last year and weighing the 2018 season a bit heavier (and ignoring his first year here), he should slot in about 22nd highest paid. If you want to add his first year into the mix and weigh this last year heavier, then he should slot in around 30-35th. That's put him at $3.4 million this year for the former and 2.2 to 3 million a year for the latter.
Vet minimum this year for Vance M. is $945,000. So, yeah, based on his stats, I think he deserves more than Vet Minimum. However, at most, he only deserves about half of what he'd be making in the 2020 season, and more likely, only about 2.5 times Vet Minimum.