NFL Owners want a QB Salary Cap

[Huckleberry1]

Poor babies. They really need to go to 2 18 game seasons a year, the owners just can’t get by with the current set up. They need to feed their families too. I heard that Jeff Lurie can’t even afford to buy one of the Swiss Alps. That’s heartbreaking.

 

[Huckleberry1]

The Union should tell the owners that they can take the quarterbacks out of the salary cap equation. They can pay them as much as they want to.

 

[jdlboot14]

This is smart. And needed.
And not only to protect the owners (CBA will complain it's some patriarchal scheme to keep money from players)
If they don't do it, it will balloon to the point where the rest of the positions and therefore the teams will actually get worse.
It's economic sense as much as it is - quality of product sense.
And the rest of the players - the vast majority of them - should push the CBA to agree to this to protect their % of $

 

[festy1986]

What a ridiculous thing to implement.

You're already effing the players. Now you want your best players to be pissed?

 

[ahmed]

Union actually benefits. More cap available to distribute among non-QBs.

Yup - am sure most players would vote for this as there are only 32 starting QBs in the NFL.

Funny how they did not care to put a floor cap for RBs though. It's the owners' fault for giving out these insane QBs. There are something like 5-7 QBs at most who deserve such money. The rest are not even worth 40 a year.

 

[Huckleberry1]

The wide receivers are overpaid more than the QB’s are.

And the people responsible for any and all “ overpaying” are the owners. F them, greedy bastards.

 

[1960Pats]

Some day I wouldn't mind seeing the total figure that each side (owners and players) receive. I doubt that it's anything close to 50/50.

 

[1960Pats]

I'm by no means an economist so I wouldn't mind someone explain to me exactly why player salaries and other costs associated with the game are rising so rapidly. It seems to be spiraling out of control.

 

[Fuzz]

Some day I wouldn't mind seeing the total figure that each side (owners and players) receive. I doubt that it's anything close to 50/50.

Good question. The 2020 CBA mandates that players receive 48.8% of revenue generated by football activities. Thats actually how the salary cap is calculated.

 

[KCSVEN]

I'm by no means an economist so I wouldn't mind someone explain to me exactly why player salaries and other costs associated with the game are rising so rapidly. It seems to be spiraling out of control.

Revenue is rising and thus the % of money allocated to players rises with it. It's been larger more recently because the covid deferred expenses expired in 2024 and the TV contracts signed a few years ago led to above average increases in revenue in 2024 and 2025 especially.
It'll rise at a more moderate pace for the 2026-2031. Also remember they went to 17 regular season games and extended playoffs a few years ago, which also added to the recent big revenue jump.

There are 32 teams and, at max, about 20 QB's that are adequate or better NFL starters. So, do you overpay the Trevor Lawence's of the world to avoid the Mac Jones' of the world? It's so important you probably have to do that because someone else will pay them if you don't.
There will always be a minimum of a dozen teams looking for a starting caliber QB and willing to overpay to get 1.

 

[203Pat]

And the people responsible for any and all “ overpaying” are the owners. F them, greedy bastards.

I never understand why so many NFL fans love to side with ownership over the players. The owners are billionaires. They're mostly sleazy businessmen and nepobabies who stand on the backs of the thousands of people they have taken advantage of. The players are the ones putting their bodies on the line. Most of these owners have their team for decades and make 10x + what they invested while the average NFL career is 3.5 years. Those greedy slimeballs don't pay their quarterbacks enough.

 

[Hammer of Thor]

I'm by no means an economist so I wouldn't mind someone explain to me exactly why player salaries and other costs associated with the game are rising so rapidly. It seems to be spiraling out of control.

“Player salaries and other costs” are directly tied to revenue - a certain % goes to the players per the CBA. Player cost is increasing because the NFL just got new TV deals for huge money.

Some specifics are outside of everyone’s control - medical benefits and pension costs for example. NFL Medical costs are subject to the same inflationary pressures we’ve seen for the general public for 50+ years. You solve that, you solve US medical cost concerns. Pension costs vary based on the discount rate environment — the lower the interest rate is (2 years ago) the higher the cost, so these costs are actually declining a bit for the NFL given the recent increase in market yields. But this is all factored into the salary cap — meaning that players get X% of revenue, then you remove the benefit costs from the players pool, and you’re left with the amount available for player salaries, which is the salary cap.

 

[1960Pats]

Good question. The 2020 CBA mandates that players receive 48.8% of revenue generated by football activities. Thats actually how the salary cap is calculated.

Is everything "generated by football activities" or are there some things not included? Are beer sales separate?

 

[rkarp1]

rising tides carry all ships...except for running backs

 

[Fuzz]

Is everything "generated by football activities" or are there some things not included? Are beer sales separate?

Yeah, concessions are included. The type of things that arent included are completely separate from football (like concerts):

NFL Economics 101

President JC Tretter addresses the economics of the game.

nflpa.com

 

[rkarp1]

really QB salaries are not rising as a percent to the yearly team cap. with the salary cap rising yearly, so will player salaries.

 

[XLIX]

I'm by no means an economist so I wouldn't mind someone explain to me exactly why player salaries and other costs associated with the game are rising so rapidly. It seems to be spiraling out of control.

The simple fact of the matter is that the NFL has done a very good job of making more and more money every year (excepting 2020). They added a game to the schedule, which was a huge deal. They added a black Friday game, Christmas games, and 2 additional playoff games. EACH of those additions brought in about 9 figures.

Is it sustainable? Well, get back to me in 10 years to find out that answer. But we can safely assume the day is coming where they will expand to 18 games, expand streaming, expand game windows, etc, etc....

 

[XLIX]

I never understand why so many NFL fans love to side with ownership over the players. The owners are billionaires. They're mostly sleazy businessmen and nepobabies who stand on the backs of the thousands of people they have taken advantage of. The players are the ones putting their bodies on the line. Most of these owners have their team for decades and make 10x + what they invested while the average NFL career is 3.5 years. Those greedy slimeballs don't pay their quarterbacks enough.

This remains one of the most misleading stats in the game. The reason why the average NFL career length is so low is because there are so many late season replacements/career practice squad types who play a game or two here and there and bring the average way down.

The average 1st rounder plays over 9 years. The average player who makes the opening day roster week 1 of his rookie season plays almost 7 years. Players with talent average decent length careers.

 

[Wozzy]

This just sounds like some influential owners whining over having to pay their QB and manage the salary cap.

The rules are the same for everyone, smarten up and become better at team building.

 

[Wozzy]

This remains one of the most misleading stats in the game. The reason why the average NFL career length is so low is because there are so many late season replacements/career practice squad types who play a game or two here and there and bring the average way down.

The average 1st rounder plays over 9 years. The average player who makes the opening day roster week 1 of his rookie season plays almost 7 years. Players with talent average decent length careers.

Not really... when a decade is considered a really long career, it's not misleading at all.

Every year over a thousand college players throw their hat into the job pool, somewhere around 200-250 players get jobs... most don't make it more than three years. A third of the NFL is made up of UDFA's, which means a whole lot of drafted players don't make it.

Pro football is hard.

Simple.