Spending by position in the NFL

Cellar-Door · Oct 31, 2023

BaseballJones said:
Top scoring offenses and their spending on QB/WR:

1. Mia - QB #16 ($13.3m), WR #6 ($33.2m)
2. Phi - QB #26 ($8.9m), WR #20 ($18.7m)
3. Buf - QB #12 ($19.7m), WR #12 ($24.8m)
4. SF - QB #28 ($7.0m), WR #21 ($17.6m)
5. Dal - QB #4 ($29.9m), WR #18 ($20.5m)

Interesting that of the top 5 scoring teams, only one of them is in the top 10 in spending at QB (Dal, #4), and only one is in the top 10 in spending at WR (Mia, #6).

So a couple things here.... 3 of these teams have a starter on a rookie deal.

But the bigger thing is that those spending numbers usually are totally useless because NFL spending isn't really a 1 year thing, so like Allen for example... he has the 5th biggest QB contract, but because of how the money is distributed it looks lower this year, but last year and next year might have very different outcomes. It's not like the NBA or something (where the only issue is rookie deals), the shifting of money makes a 1 year comp generally useless.

slamminsammya · Oct 31, 2023

I bet you can do the average using AAV instead of 2023 compensation, I think spotrac has that.

jk333 · Oct 31, 2023

BaseballJones said:
This is where I'm getting this data from.

NFL Team Spending Against the Cap By Position (full roster)

QB
- NFL Avg - $15.3m
- High: Tennessee - $39.5m
- Low: Tampa Bay - $3.2m
- New England: #30 - $6.1m

RB
- NFL Avg - $10.0m
- High: Las Vegas - $20.1m
- Low: LA Rams - $3.8m
- New England: #31 - $4.0m

WR
- NFL Avg - $22.1m
- High: Tampa Bay - $39.2m
- Low: Green Bay - $6.9m
- New England: #15 - $21.7m

TE
- NFL Avg - $9.7m
- High: New England - $20.9m
- Low: Tennessee - $2.6m
- New England: #1 - $20.9m

OL
- NFL Avg - $36.9m
- High: Houston - $58.7m
- Low: Tennessee - $18.2m
- New England: #15 - $36.9m

DL
- NFL Avg - $32.0m
- High: Washington - $60.9m
- Low: Arizona - $9.6m
- New England: #18 - $29.3m

LB
- NFL Avg - $22.1m
- High: LA Chargers: $44.5m
- Low: LA Rams: $4.9m
- New England: #7 - $32.2m

DB
- NFL Avg - $30.0m
- High: Buffalo - $50.2m
- Low: LA Rams - $10.6m
- New England: #7 - $34.7m

K/P/LS
- NFL Avg - $5.4m
- High: Kansas City - $9.1m
- Low: LA Rams - $2.0m
- New England: #28 - $3.2m

I think looking at it like this is great! Good post. Gives perspective on team building and where the effort.

I do think looking at any one position like QB where a rookie deal can skew is of note but overall I think this post is a great perspective.

I’d summarize as, the Patriots aren’t cheap, but the players that they’ve spent $$$ on aren’t good.

chilidawg · Oct 31, 2023

jk333 said:
I’d summarize as, the Patriots aren’t cheap, but the players that they’ve spent $$$ on aren’t good.

True that. But Parker, JJS, and Gesicki all were relatively successful before their fully disappointing New England stints. Maybe it's something other than the talent.

Salem's Lot · Oct 31, 2023

I’d be interested to see where they rank in actual cash spent by position group.

Cellar-Door · Oct 31, 2023

chilidawg said:
True that. But Parker, JJS, and Gesicki all were relatively successful before their fully disappointing New England stints. Maybe it's something other than the talent.

And Jonnu is on pace to have more yards this year in ATL as the #2 TE than he had in both NE years combined.

DennyDoyle'sBoil · Nov 1, 2023

Cellar-Door said:
So a couple things here.... 3 of these teams have a starter on a rookie deal.

But the bigger thing is that those spending numbers usually are totally useless because NFL spending isn't really a 1 year thing, so like Allen for example... he has the 5th biggest QB contract, but because of how the money is distributed it looks lower this year, but last year and next year might have very different outcomes. It's not like the NBA or something (where the only issue is rookie deals), the shifting of money makes a 1 year comp generally useless.

Yep. These numbers are useless. Lamar Jackson’s 2023 cap number is $25 million. His cap cost to play this year is nearly $60 million. The Ravens just don’t have to pay it this year.

The idea that the Jets are spending $10m on the QB position is similarly misleading, given that they are taking $80m in cap charges over the next two years (spread out) for Rodgers.

Russel Wilson, Justin Hebert — these are $50 million players this year. Their 2023 cap hit means nothing for purposes of comparing across teams.

BigJimEd · Nov 1, 2023

BaseballJones said:
All fair points. So...what's a better way to analyze team spending by position and using that as a point of reference when comparing their relative success in the NFL?

I would use the AAV amount to account for some of the cap maneuvering in a single year. Still won't be perfect though as there are issues there as well

edit: @BaseballJones Beat me to it. Thanks for all the info

rodderick · Nov 1, 2023

BaseballJones said:
So...same exercise, but with AAV for the full roster - this includes, of course, dead cap money, etc. Because that stuff matters.

QB
- NFL Avg: $31.1m
- High: Phi - $57.0m
- Low: NE - $5.9m
- New England: #32 - $5.9m

RB
- NFL Avg: $11.7m
- High: SF - $24.5m
- Low: NE - $4.1m
- New England: #32 - $4.1m

WR
- NFL Avg: $28.9m
- High: LV - $59.8m
- Low: GB - $8.1m
- New England: #16 - $28.3m

TE
- NFL Avg: $12.9m
- High: Min - $26.6m
- Low: Ten - $3.0m
- New England: #6 - $18.1m

OL
- NFL Avg: $45.3m
- High: Hou - $75.3m
- Low: Sea - $19.6m
- New England: #29 - $28.8m

DL
- NFL Avg: $41.8m
- High: SF - $91.5m
- Low: Ari - $11.3m
- New England: #28 - $25.5m

LB
- NFL Avg: $28.9m
- High: LAC - $64.5m
- Low: LAR - $5.0m
- New England: #10 - $31.6m

DB
- NFL Avg: $39.0m
- High: Dal - $62.7m
- Low: LAR - $10.0m
- New England: #4 - $55.8m

K/P/LS
- NFL Avg: $6.1m
- High: Ind - $10.1m
- Low: LAR - $2.6m
- New England: #27 - $3.7m

TOTAL
- NFL Avg: $245.8m
- High: Buf - $314.4m
- Low: LAR - $190.9m
- New England - #29 - $201.6m

I assume the low total AAV for NE is because the Patriots have a ton of cap space next year as a bunch of guys' contracts are done.

So from these numbers:

QB - #32
RB - #32
WR - #16
TE - #6
OL - #29
DL - #28
LB - #10
DB - #4
K/P/LS - #27

Total spending by unit:
- Offense: $85.2m
- Defense: $112.9m
- ST: $3.7m

Here's that same breakdown for the top 6 teams in the NFL (everyone at 6-2 or better):

- Phi (7-1): Off $173.6m (56.5%), Def $127.8m (41.6%), ST $5.9m (1.9%) = $307.3m
- Mia (6-2): Off $120.6m (45.0%), Def $140.5m (52.4%), ST $7.0m (2.6%) = $268.0m
- Jax (6-2): Off $121.3m (50.8%), Def $111.4m (46.6%), ST $6.3m (2.6%) = $239.0m
- Bal (6-2): Off $158.9m (56.9%), Def $111.0m (39.7%), ST $9.4m (3.4%) = $279.5m
- KC (6-2): Off $143.1m (63.1%), Def $75.7m (33.3%), ST $8.1m (3.6%) = $226.7m
- Det (6-2): Off $123.4m (53.8%), Def $100.6m (43.9%, ST $5.3m (2.3%) = $229.4m

- NE (2-6): Off $85.2m (42.3%), Def $112.9m (56.0%), ST $3.7m (1.8%) = $201.6m

Again, that's a very low AAV for NE compared to other teams, I. think because they have tons of contracts ending after this year and have one of the largest amounts of cap space for 2024. But still, the percentages are interesting. Miami is spending very little on offense (as a percentage of their total AAV) compared to the other top teams, but that's largely a function of having a QB still on his rookie deal (same with Jax and NE, though obviously NE isn't a top team).

But those numbers going off the main page must include dead cap hits and such, because when you click on the Miami team page for a minute, you see a different breakdown, and it looks like this:

Off: $117.3m (43.8%), Def $130.2m (48.6%), ST $7.0m (2.6%), which isn't a full 100%, meaning that 5% of their total AAV must be due to dead cap hits and such.

In any case, clearly for the top 6 teams in the league, all but one spend more (in many cases MUCH more) on offense than defense, yet the Patriots overwhelmingly spend on defense compared to offense. And you know? It kinda shows.

Awesome job.

slamminsammya · Nov 1, 2023

You would have to have talent to spend on in the first place to have a higher concentration on the offense. Which they do not.

ZMart100 · Nov 1, 2023

I am sure many teams have stories like this but the NE DB AAV is hugely inflated because of Jackson. He's 16.5m AAV, but the Pats are paying him near the minimum and almost certainly won't pay him $14.4m next year when they can cut him with no cap hit. AAV is probably about as good as one could do in this sort of analysis, but it still doesn't quite capture the whole story.

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Spending by position in the NFL

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