NFL positions making the most money: Offensive linemen trending way up, defensive backs on downslide

All NFL In the off-season, it appears that the market, at least in one position, changes significantly. Guards got paid a lot this offseason, and wide receivers are starting to get paid too. However, the safety market has seemingly collapsed, while the running back market has rebounded.

But that’s just one offseason and is significantly affected by when players hit free agency. To get a full picture of how positional markets have changed, it is best to look at a larger sample. And because teams can manipulate cap numbers in a variety of ways, using things like restructures, void years, and option bonuses, it’s also better to look at cash spending rather than cap spending.

The chart below shows the percentage of cash spending on each position for each year since 2014, as well as the trend line for those positions. These trend lines are labeled “Linear (Position)” on the chart. Basically, the graph shows how NFL teams allocated their spending over the last decade as well as the following season.

There are some easily noticeable trends here.

First, you can see that the offensive line, defensive line, and defensive back groups are taking up most of the cap. The reason for this should be obvious; teams play between four to six players – or up to seven – on any given snap and therefore have more of them on their roster than players at any other position.

The next group consists of quarterbacks, wide receivers, and linebackers. Again, the reason is obvious. There is only one quarterback on the field, but the best quarterbacks make significantly more money than anyone else, which puts the position on par with receivers and linebackers, where teams typically have between two and four of them on the field at any given time. time.

And lastly, the running backs and tight ends check in at the bottom. There are usually only one or two of these players on the field, and the depth charts are shorter than most other positions. Additionally, running back contracts were on the decline until this past offseason, while the spread of elite pass-catching tight ends is a more recent phenomenon.

Then we come to trends. Most notably, attackers are trending upwards while defenders are trending downwards. There are probably several reasons for this. Firstly, right tackles have, in recent seasons, caught up to left tackles in terms of contract size. Second, teams are increasingly willing to pay big money for guards. And third, with teams using more defenses at one time, this has put some downward pressure on the market, which is generally considered a “weak link” unit. (That is, even if you have the NFL best cornerback, if one of your other defenders is really bad, opponents will just pick on him.) Especially at safety, this has resulted in a significant shift in large, long-term contracts. The curve market hasn’t been like that yet, but it hasn’t increased as much as other positional markets.

After that, you can see that the trend line for wide receivers is, unsurprisingly, slowly rising, while restricted spending has seemingly increased at the same rate that running back spending has decreased. Interestingly, quarterback and linebacker spending has been relatively stable – at least in terms of share of league-wide money. This is likely because, even though the best quarterbacks have seen their salaries explode, the fact that there are relatively few of them and that teams without one tend to continue rotating between much lower-salary players on rookie deals, and that quarterbacks reserve earn a relatively insignificant compared to the initial ones, keeps the overall share of money under control.

The operative question, of course, is whether these trends will continue and, if not, how things will change. As quarterbacks make more and more money, there will be a smaller piece of the pie available to everyone else. Will teams continue to prioritize both the offensive line and wide receivers, or will one or the other take a step back? Could the running back market really show an even greater downward trend? And with more defenders on the field than ever before, can the corners and safeties reverse their trend? These are all important questions to keep an eye on as the league moves into the 2020s and beyond.