After best season, emerging star locked up through 2029

Darren Urban

WhenTrey McBridewas growing up in Fort Morgan, Colorado, he was an excellent athlete but reaching the NFL was just a dream and little more.

"It was never on the forefront of my mind,"McBride said. "I was never convinced."

That younger version on McBride probably would be amazed to see the 25-year-old McBride on Thursday, after the tight end turned his first Pro Bowl season into a four-year contract extension, connecting him to the Cardinals through the 2029 season.

The extension was expected, and the Cardinals had made it a priority. McBride, a second-round pick in 2022, had one year left on his rookie deal. The contract is worth a reported $43 million in guarantees and puts his average salary at $19M, making him the highest paid ever at his position.

McBride had an excellent finish to the 2023 season, and unlike a young Trey, brought significant confidence into 2024.

"I still feel no one really knows about me," McBride saidbefore the season, noting that he liked the idea of joining players like Detroit's Sam LaPorta and Dallas' Jake Ferguson in the "next wave" of the position.

That wasn't a problem after the season, after McBride totaled 111 receptions for 1,146 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

It's been a quick climb for the Colorado State product, who came into the league with both the pressure of being the team's top pick in that year's draft (the Cardinals sent their first-round pick in 2022 to Baltimore in a trade for wide receiver Hollywood Brown) and the reality that the Cardinals already had veteran Zach Ertz in place as TE1.

McBride took a big jump in 2023, in part because Ertz suffered a season-ending knee injury and in part because quarterback Kyler Murray returned from injury. He had 81 catches, which smashed the team record for receptions by a tight end, for 825 yards and three scores setting him up for another leap forward last season.

"He had a really good year but he hasn't hit his ceiling," coach Jonathan Gannon said at the Scouting combine. "He's working on different parts of his game, but he needs to keep doing what he's doing.

"He's not a one-trick pony."