Pay Scale

Exactly ...should have definitely never paid Ben. I have this rule of thumb that no QB should be paid more than Tom Brady was at his salary peak and most certainly no QB that has never won a SB. I understand he can compensate by having a wife that makes more then he does, nonetheless, I'm trying to figure out the last time a QB won the SB that was making more than Tom Brady was at the time they won it?? Tom Brady made 15 mil last year by the way. The most he was being paid when he was with the Patriots was like 22 - 27 mil.

I havent seen a team win a SB that was paying a defensive player more than 20 mil a year. Can anyone name any? Shaq Barrett was the highest paid player on the Bucs defense last year at just under 16 mil.

 

Isn’t there a minimum that a team is required to spend?

 

Brady took a chunk more home than $15MM last year. First though, understand that what a player's cap number and what they're actually paid are two different things. It's more pertinent for 2021, as his 2020 contract was simply $15MM in base salary and a $10MM roster bonus. So both his earnings and cap number were $25MM (with the same amounts on the books for 2021).

The 2021 originally had the same amounts, but Brady extended his contract by one year, and added three void years. He reduced his 2021 salary to vet minimum ($1.075MM) and converted the rest to a signing bonus. With the Bucs adding $7MM it totaled $20MM. He also received a $20MM roster bonus. The bonus were prorated over the five years of the contract, so Brady's cap number for 2021 was significantly reduced, to ~$10MM. But that's accounting. In terms of what he took home, it's the $40MM in bonuses + the $1.075MM in salary (There are also some incentives in play, but I haven't seen the details. The max for 2020 and '21 is about $9MM).

Comparatively, Ben and Brady are very close in career APY: Ben at $15.6MM, Brady at $14.2MM. Though there's some noise there given Brady was drafted four years earlier and much later in the draft. But if you look their respective cap numbers and earnings from 2020-'23, Ben has $60MM (cap) and $35MM (earned); Brady, $78MM (cap) and $81MM (earned, with possibility for more incentives at end of season). Those numbers are skewed as well, with Brady having an extra active year than Ben, but notable is that the Steelers will incur a $10MM dead money hit from Ben's void years; the Bucs will take $24MM from Brady's.

Well, $20MM cap years haven't been around long at all for LBs. As I recall, Von Miller's 2017 was the only one to hit it before this year. Mack in 2020. I think there's three this year.

 

There is. Typically determined by a meeting between NFLPA and owners each year. This year's was $180MM. That figure is a going-in amount - meaning teams aren't required to compensate for injury/suspension/retirements that may happen during the season.

 

Contract. As in single not plural. We are up tight against the cap because of Ben’s contract.