Arizona Cardinals left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. is extension-eligible for the first time, and this week he explained exactly how he arrived at the number he wants. Johnson, who was reported in June to be seeking $40 million per year on his second contract, told the PHNX Cardinals podcast that the figure is not a negotiating flourish but the standard he holds himself to, per Pro Football Rumors’ Adam La Rose.
“When I watch my tape, I ask myself, ‘Would you pay this guy $40 million?’ That’s how I watch my tape,” Johnson said on the podcast. His reasoning is that the market for elite pass rushers — the players he is paid to erase — now runs from $35 million to $50 million per year, and that it takes an equivalent player to shut one down. “I’m not going out there thinking, ‘Pay me $28 million or $28.5 million,’” he said.
The gap he is pointing at is real. Laremy Tunsil‘s $30.1 million average annual value still leads all left tackles, while Will Anderson became the league’s first $50 million-per-year edge rusher earlier this offseason and five other pass rushers now sit at $40 million or more. Tackles have historically leapfrogged each other by roughly a million dollars at a time; Johnson is arguing the position should be priced against the players it neutralizes instead.
For a rebuilding Arizona roster, this is the most important development question on the team. Johnson is 25, was the No. 6 overall pick in 2023, and is already playing on a picked-up fifth-year option worth $19.07 million for 2027, so the Cardinals control him for two more seasons without a deal. But cornerstone left tackles rarely get cheaper with time, and how seriously the front office engages this summer will say a great deal about where it believes this roster is headed. Camp opens in Glendale on July 22 — the first real checkpoint on whether the two sides start closing the distance between $30 million and the number Johnson sees when he watches his own tape.
