Every NFL team’s highest salary for the 2023 season
By Nick Villano
A lot of money is going around the NFL right now, with a salary cap of $224.8 million. However, each team’s top salaries would surprise you.
Salaries are a funny thing in the NFL. Agents put out the press release showcasing the top number. However, those numbers are never what they seem. Lamar Jackson just signed a contract that pays him an average of $50 million per year. Guess how much he’s making this season outside of true signing bonuses. $22.15 million.
Looking at each team’s top salary cap hit, the numbers will blow minds. While we see salaries in the NBA ballooning to $50-60 million per season, there is no player in the NFL with a salary cap hit over $40 million. All these deals have a crazy amount of money on the backend, and teams will always push the money down the road to gain cap space today.
The other revelation in this piece is most teams’ highest-earning player isn’t the quarterback. Eight teams have their highest-paid player under center. Others are paying pass rushers, wide receivers, and offensive linemen more than anyone else. One team is the Los Angeles Chargers, who just signed Justin Herbert to a massive deal that pays him an average of $52 million per season. However, guess what his cap hit is in 2023? It’s around $8.5 million.
Come with us on this interesting journey. All contract information came from the smart people at Over the Cap.
Meet the highest-paid player from each NFL team this season:
Arizona Cardinals: Budda Baker — $17.9 million
We start with a huge surprise. Kyler Murray’s new contract isn’t in effect, yet. That’s why he’s not the highest-paid player on his team. Somehow, the Cardinals were able to get Murray to sign a contract where the money doesn’t start for two years. His deal pays him just over $16 million. So, safety Budda Baker’s contract is the top on the Cardinals next season. He actually just negotiated a new deal, adding a few more million to this year’s cap hit.
Baker is a very good safety, but he wasn’t 100 percent in on the Cardinals until recently. He wanted a trade, and who could blame him? The Cardinals aren’t going far, and Baker is in the prime of his career. For now, while he’s still here, he is the Cardinals’ highest-paid player.
There aren’t many safeties that are being paid a premium. Baker is in the same stratosphere as Derwin James and Jamal Adams. His price breaks down as just over $13 million in salary and a little under $4 million in bonus. Murray takes over as the highest-paid player on the Cardinals next year, but for now, Baker is the guy.