Desmond Trufant has joined the ranks of the top paid cornerbacks in the NFL after inking a new five year, $69 million contract extension according to Jordan Schultz of the Huffington Post. According to Schultz, $42 million of the contract is guaranteed. Trufant was drafted with the 22nd pick of the 2013 NFL Draft and made the Pro Bowl in 2015. Trufant has been injured this past season and only appeared in 9 games, but the Falcons were confident enough to extend the contract at a pretty high figure rather than having him play out the season on his $8 million option year.

The $13.8 APY will rank 5th in the NFL behind Trumaine Johnson, Josh Norman, Patrick Peterson, and Richard Sherman.  The $42 million in guarantees ranks 4th behind Norman, Peterson and Joe Haden and eclipses the recent Stephon Gilmore guarantee by $2 million. It should be worth noting that Trufant already had $8 million guaranteed so the effective guarantee will be less than Gilmore’s and that is something that should be taken into account when evaluating the final numbers as they roll in.

The Falcons had just $2.5 million in cap room going into today so I would expect this contract to have, like Gilmore’s, a rather large signing bonus to minimize his cap hit this year. Gilmore received an $18 million signing bonus when he signed with the Patriots.

As more details become known about the contract we will update his contract page.