Hi everyone! Have you ever thought to yourself…how much does each team spend on their position groups? You have? Well, you in are luck. Let’s dig in.
Welcome to the Cap & Trade Newsletter.
As always, the numbers presented below are pulled from the database at Overthecap.com (full disclosure: I contribute to the data entry and other tasks at Overthecap).
The tables and charts below are interactive. Below I will present the data in two ways: Salary Cap Dollar Spending and Average Per Year (APY) Spending.
Viewing positional spending with both numbers is important as salary cap spending may not tell the whole story.
Simply put, the NFL salary cap is an accounting function to allocate the cash spent by a team. On the flip side, it sums the contract's APY value for each position group. Assessing the APY offers a perspective on the actual investment in these contract groups.
The Top 5 teams in terms of APY spending:
Philadelphia - $353.272 million
Cleveland - $342.420 million
San Francisco - $336.859 million
Jacksonville - $328.071 million
Miami - $321.497 million
Four of the five teams have one thing in common: a veteran quarterback contract near the top of the APY market value. Unsurprisingly, these five teams have historically been big spenders, both in retaining their players and in the free-agent market.
The Bottom 5 teams in terms of APY spending:
Las Vegas - $219.059 million
Los Angeles Rams - $225.602 million
Los Angeles Chargers - $227.213 million
New England - $231.848 million
Washington - $234.059 million
You can hover your mouse over the charts to drill down into the data, and you can sort the tables as needed.
The above chart shows team spending by position group in terms of combined contract APY value. Conversely, the chart below shows team spending in terms of salary cap by position group.
You can hover your mouse over the charts to drill down into the data, and you can sort the tables as needed.
The quickest takeaway is Cash is not Cap. NFL teams have learned how to navigate the salary cap system, after the Collective Bargaining Agreement from 2011, with efficiency. Teams are continually hedging against a rising league salary cap year over year.
Teams utilize double- and triple-option bonus models more often with large contracts as part of this relatively new model of hedging against a rising salary cap. The majority of NFL teams do not have cash flow problems to cover their roster needs. A few teams have more cash flow available (Philadelphia, San Francisco, Cleveland, Jacksonville) compared to other teams that may not have “as much cash” available (Los Angeles Chargers, Indianapolis, and Cincinnati).
Reminder that you can drill down in the charts above by tapping or hovering your mouse, the charts will dynamically change.
Thanks,
-TC
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