One month later, Rodney Hudson reign as NFL's highest paid center ends

When free agency opened on March 10, the Raiders made former Chiefs center Rodney Hudson a top priority. They locked him up on a 5-year, $44.5 million deal which made him the NFL's highest paid center at $9 million per season. His place at the top ended today when the the Dolphins reached an agreement with Mike Pouncey on a 5-year extension worth over $50 million according to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport.

When Hudson signed his deal with the Raiders last month, it was designed to just surpass Mike Pouncey's twin brother Maurkice who signed a 5-year, $44 million deal with the Steelers last offseason.

Hudson will have a greater figure for the 2015 season with a cap hit of $13 million, but that was front loaded by design due to the tremendous cap space the Raiders have at the moment. The Dolphins needed to cut cap space and did so by signing Pouncey to the extension which lowered his 2015 cap hit and spreads it out over the life of the contract. He will still receive $20 million guaranteed while Hudson received $13 million; all of it up front.

Mike Pouncey spent last season at right guard while recovering from a hip injury, but he was a top ten center previous to last season, being named to 2-straight Pro Bowls. Hudson improved to become a top five center last season along with Maurkice Pouncey who is a 4-time Pro Bowler and 2-time All Pro.

Hudson and the Pouncey brothers are all 25 years old. In fact, their birthdays are 12 days apart (Hudson on July 12, the Pounceys on July 24).

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