Busting a (Salary) Cap
Before we kick free agency off, I thought we could take a look at how much of each team’s cap is allocated to which positional group and where that ranks in the NFL.
Couple of talking points can come from this. If the team wants to be built similarly to last season in terms of its cap allocation then a large disparity either way could indicate either a re-signing, bringing in a free agent, or cutting an aging veteran.
It’s also interesting to see the emphasis that each team puts into each position and how that played out for them last season.
Format
For easier digestion, the numbers will be presented in the following format:
Position
Team: Cap allocation to that position, where that ranks in NFL (what they spent at the position last season, where that ranked)
Salary Cap Rankings:
QB
Packers: 18.25M, 10th (19.27M, 4th)
Lions: 17.72M, 11th (17.03M, 10th)
Bears: 17M, 12th (19.2M, 5th)
Vikings: 6.89M, 25th (10.28M, 3rd)
RB
Vikings: 17.5M, 2nd (13.95M, 3rd)
Bears: 10.33M, 7th (9.58M, 8th)
Lions: 9.89M, 8th (6.08M, 14th)
Packers: 3.2M, 25th (2.85M, 25th)
WR
Lions: 30.01M, 1st (20.42M, 10th)
Vikings: 15.6M, 12th (10.92M 20th)
Bears: 13.81M, 17th (11.98M, 16th)
Packers: 7M, 28th (9.39M, 23rd)
TE
Vikings: 9.4M, 10th (4.29M 21st)
Lions: 8.62M, 11th (5.35M, 15th)
Bears: 7.07M, 14th (7.23M, 12th)
Packers: 2.91M, 26th (2.46M, 29th)
OL
Vikings: 28.16M, 6th (24.13M, 10th)
Packers: 17.58M, 27th (18.99M, 20th)
Bears: 16.6M, 28th (16.5M, 26th)
Lions: 7.24M, 32nd (11.87M, 32nd)
Total Offense
Vikings: 77.58M, 3rd (63.47M, 9th)
Lions: 73.57M, 4th (60.76M, 12th)
Bears: 64.84M, 18th (64.53M, 8th)
Packers: 48.94M, 26th (52.97M, 23rd)
DL
Bears: 31.64M, 5th (18.59M, 20th)
Vikings: 23.85M, 15th (26.14M, 9th)
Lions: 13.49M, 28th (38.1M, 2nd)
Packers: 9.91M, 32nd (12.95M, 26th)
LB
Packers: 35.98M, 1st (29.3M, 1st)
Vikings: 14.76M, 17th (13.04M, 21st)
Lions: 13.94M, 19th (13.66M, 18th)
Bears: 3.74M, 31st (11.1M, 24th)
S
Lions: 8.33M, 14th (4.41M, 26th)
Packers: 7.46M, 16th (7.03M, 18th)
Vikings: 3.85M, 26th (2.87M, 25th)
Bears: 2.85M, 28th (4.43M, 25th)
CB
Vikings: 12.2M, 15th (8.99M, 21st)
Packers: 11.72M, 17th (19.78M, 2nd)
Bears: 8.47M, 21st (11.64M, 18th)
Lions: 4.86M, 28th (4.95M, 29th)
Total Defense
Packers: 65.07M, 11th (69.07M, 3rd)
Vikings: 54.66M, 20th (51.04M, 23rd)
Bears: 46.7M, 28th (45.76M, 28th)
Lions: 40.62M, 30th (51.04M, 23rd)
Total 2015 cap space to work with
Packers: 29.64M
Chicago: 28.71M
Vikings: 20.43M
Lions: 17.06M