Cornerback Denzel Ward recently secured a contract extension with the Cleveland Browns that made him the highest-paid player in his class in NFL history.

The team's objective was to secure the element it considers a cornerstone in its project to aspire to win a title.

Historic agreement

To that end, $100.5 million was put on the table in exchange for the Ohio native to be a member of the Browns for five seasons.

The agreement establishes that Ward is guaranteed $71.25 million with an average annual salary of $20.1 million.

In doing so, the 24-year-old corner surpassed the $20 million per year earned by Jalen Ramsey, also a corner for the Los Angeles Rams, who was also named to the Pro Bowl five times.

Long-term projection

As if that weren't enough, the guaranteed cash payout that Denzel and his agent achieved also left far behind the mark of Marshon Lattimore, who at the time earned $44.3 million through a pactually agreed-upon contract with the New Orleans Saints.

"In a perfect world, I would definitely want to be a Brown for my entire career. I'm from Cleveland, the team that drafted me, the team that believed in me coming out of college. I'm very proud and respectful of that and I want to give my all for this team," the cornerback recently said.

It should be noted that Ward will earn a base salary of $13,294,000 during 2022.

Thus, the Browns will have in Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome, two of the best cornerbacks in the league.

The player with the number 21 on the dorsal has been selected to the Pro Bowl in 2018 and 2021 and holds the fourth-highest coverage mark among corners since 2018 with at least 1,000 plays.

In addition, Denzel is one of four players with 10-plus interceptions and 50-plus passes defended since being drafted in 2018 by Cleveland.

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