Actually he is. And his contract is 48 Million for the first four years, which is all that matters. The 15 Million per year number is inflated because they added years to give him that "highest paid RB" title and spread the cap hit for the bonuses out.
Wouldn't call it inflated. As the signing and option bonuses fall off, his base salary goes up. Total cap charge deviates from the $15M average by $2.4M - at most - and that's in the direction that favors the the team by being less. That's kind of what you would like to see so a player's cap charge doesn't exceed the average by an unacceptable amount. Additionally, it puts you in a position where his entire cap charge in later years is calculated solely by base salary, which means there's less risk for the team as the player ages.
I've been out-of-the-loop and hadn't ever looked at Zeke's contract. At first glance, I'm a big fan.
To be honest, Zeke's contract makes a strong argument to sign high-performing 1st round picks about halfway through their rookie contract. You leverage those dirt-cheap rookie contract years to absorb some of the prorated bonus money, and then when the player hits 29 or 30-years-old, he's on a pay-for-play contract. All the while, his cap hit never has to exceed the average by more than a couple million.
Hats off to the Jones' on this one. For Zeke, it's kind of like Arnold said in
Twins, "you moved too soon".