Growth in the average top 5 salaries at each position from 2014 to 2023 (from @Jason_OTC on Twitter). A nice visualization of how positional value has changed over the past decade.

30 comments

1. Those damn right tackles, takin der jobs!

2. I know the importance of RT has increased so much in the past few years with how many teams have multiple good edge rushers but insane to see it put into numbers like this

3. Punters are people too!

4. CB salaries not really growing with the rest of the positions that most directly affect the passing game is interesting.

5. I’ll never understand why Centers are so low on this list, they seem absolutely critical to diagnosing pre-snap sets and run blocking

6. The only surprise here is corners only getting pay increases at 2/3rds the rate of the cap increase considering how much the league has shifted towards passing

7. Hahaha fuck punters.

8. I think in recent years there’s been an influx of great punting talent in the NFL leading to lower contracts as you can easily replace your punter.

   I feel like the worst punters this past year were much better than the worst punters 10 years ago

9. I made this to visualize the 5-year change. I do need to get it updated with 2024 numbers though. https://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/15dm01z/oc_trends_in_nfl_american_football_pay_by/

10. I’ll never understand why center is undervalued. Seems to me like it’s one of the most important positions in the game and whenever I do a roster a dive on great OLs or championship teams, the center is an anchor.

11. The only good part of The Blind Side is the first three minutes where Sandra Bullock uses the example of Joe Theismann to explain why tackles get paid so much. Rest of the movie’s crap, but that part was good.

12. I’m surprised that RT is above LT

13. With the increased mobility of QBs across the board – the importance of RT as a pass blocker picked up and made the position more valuable. RT’s used to be just glorified guards that got help from the TE.

14. Only thing red is the punter, rest are all green.

15. I have a feeling the Safety market is about to crash

16. surprised at center honestly, a good center is so critical to call out defenses and blocking schemes

17. RIP Punters, salary cap has nearly doubled and somehow they’re getting paid even less than they were 10 years ago

18. My only takeaway from this is that Kickers salaries have grown more than RBs in the last 10 years.

19. Who even punts anyway?

20. i like this

21. Punters living in the depths

22. Justice for punters

23. How has right tackle increased more than qb with the millions they throw at them

24. Love seeing my oline brethren get some appreciation

25. If the top salaries have increased so much with respect to the cap, that makes me think median salaries must have really stagnated at virtually every position. Yet another failure of the NFLPA.

26. I’m unfamiliar with this new position. What is the Salary Cap’s role? /s

27. THIS IS INTERESTING!

    i think this shows the QB, & the positions in direct proximity to it, are consuming more & more of the NFL’s attention & resources, which is annoying imo. the running game just aint what it used to be, & a shame those guys don’t get paid more cuz their careers seem to end way earlier than the QBs & they take a fuckton more damage.

    surprised the Tight End isn’t higher cuz that seems like a super prominent position these days (i guess of that Kelsey guy)

    the heydays of the punter are solely in Pat McAlfee’s head

28. I’m surprised Center salaries haven’t grown like the other OL spots. We’ve seen time and time again how important a good Center is to anchor and lead the line, and we’re in the Golden Age of interior pass rushers.

29. How about let’s start discounting the price of beer and tickets?

30. anyone else feel like this isn’t a visualization? can’t we get a graph with some colored lines over 10 years with actual numbers on the Y axis