The Checkbook

The latest newsletter from KCSN Sports Data Scientist, Joseph Hefner.

Saquan Barkley didn’t get a long-term contract before the franchise tag deadline. Nor did any of the other tagged running backs (Josh Jacobs, Tony Pollard). Plenty of internet ink has been spilled about the value of running backs relative to other positions. I won’t rehash any of that here.

Instead, I wanted to take a look at the salary cap overall, and see what positions are growing in value, which are simply maintaining their value, and which are losing value. I saw a Twitter post by @Jason_OTC that showed a table (see below) with what the Average Per Year (APY) for the top 10 players was in 2013 vs 2023. This is a pretty solid proxy for how valuable NFL owners and GMs view the different positions then and now. After all, money talks. How much the owners write a check for says a lot about what they value.