It’s been a big offseason for former Michigan State stars in the NFL like Kenneth Walker III, Jalen Nailor, Kirk Cousins, and now Jayden Reed.
Several Spartans have signed new contracts this offseason and Reed became the latest on Friday evening, inking a three-year extension with the Green Bay Packers through the 2029 season.
According to Adam Schefter, Green Bay just made Reed one of the highest-paid receivers in the NFL with his three-year, $50 million deal which was announced on Friday. Announcing this move during the 2026 NFL Draft essentially shows the rest of the league that the Packers feel really good about their receiver room and they’re going to spend money elsewhere.
The new deal for Reed makes him the 29th-highest paid receiver in the NFL just behind Rashid Shaheed and right in front of Cooper Cupp and Mike Evans. He’s also right behind former teammate Romeo Doubs who signed with the New England Patriots.
Reed and Nailor are now two of the 40 highest-paid receivers in the NFL which may not seem like a huge deal, but considering there are around 200 in the league, it is impressive.
Nailor signed a deal with the Las Vegas Raiders in March that’ll pay him just under $12 million per year. The top two receivers from that 2021 squad are making some serious money in the NFL, signing $80 million worth of contracts over the past month. Talk about a great recruiting tool for Courtney Hawkins and Michigan State.
As if Courtney Hawkins needed more recruiting help
Several things could lead to an improved recruiting pitch such as team success, position-specific success, and NFL development. For Hawkins, he really only has to worry about team success because his receivers have been really good for years now and it feels like quarterback play has been holding them back since 2021.
Hawkins can now add another accomplishment to his resume: getting a receiver paid around $16 million per year in the NFL. He just saw a guy get $30 million and now $50 million, and if Keon Coleman can turn things around in Buffalo this season (yes, he is a self-proclaimed Hawkins product), he’s also going to receive a massive paycheck.
What better recruiting pitch can you have than, ”Come to Michigan State and get paid tens of millions of dollars in 5-8 years”? That’s a smart long-term plan that recruits and parents of recruits will have no issue buying into. Michigan State may not offer LSU-level NIL money, but it can get wide receivers to the league — and get them paid.
I’m not going to say that this will immediately help recruiting, but it’s pretty obvious that Hawkins is an elite talent identifier and developer.
And now his guys are getting paid.
Add us as a preferred source on Google