Baseball may be America’s pastime. Football is its lifeblood.
The NFL salary cap is set to be $301.2 million for the 2026 season, going up $22 million from 2025 and marking the first time the league has seen the cap surpass the $300 million mark. Only four years ago, the cap eclipsed $200 million for the first time.
Gauging just how much a team has in the cap requires, practically, an economics degree, or, at least, a chair in the front office. Taxi squads, dead money, active rosters. These things change the figure almost daily when the season starts.
For our purposes of examining how much each team spends, we’re looking specifically at their active 53-man roster. Players will be cut in training camp this summer. Players will be brought up, too.
But for now, this is how the teams rank and for each team, we’ve listed the player who accounts for the biggest individual cap hit on the roster in rounded figures, per Spotrac.
Note: Cap hit is not the same thing as average annual value (AAV) of a contract.
1. Pittsburgh Steelers - $338.9 Million
- Highest paid player: TJ Watt, $42 million
The always-on Pittsburgh Steelers have established themselves as maybe the most consistent franchise in the NFL.
2. Tampa Bay Buccaneers - $330 Million
- Highest paid player: Baker Mayfield, $40 million
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were one of the worst, if not the worst, team in the NFL in the 2010s. The Bucs haven't missed the playoffs since 2020. Money spending has helped.
3. Cincinnati Bengals - $327.6 Million
- Highest paid player: Joe Burrow, $37.6 million
For the old timers, it's hard to imagine the Cincinnati Bengals, long known as one of the saddest-sack organizations in the NFL, at the top of this list. What a world.
4. Dallas Cowboys - $323.3 Million
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- Highest paid player: Dak Prescott, $44.6 million
It's Jerry Jones. It'd be weirder if the Dallas Cowboys weren't in the top five.
5. Seattle Seahawks - $322 Million
- Highest paid player: Sam Darnold, $37.9 million
The Seattle Seahawks seem to have figured out this whole NFL thing. They've missed the playoffs just seven times this century, adding two Super Bowl wins and two more appearances.
6. Los Angeles Rams - $320.4 Million
- Highest paid player: Matthew Stafford, $48.3 million
The Los Angeles Rams found new life in LA upon moving from St. Louis. They've spent like it, too, and have become one of the best teams of the last decade.
7. Kansas City Chiefs - $320.1 Million
- Highest paid player: Chris Jones, $44.8 million
All that star power, all those Super Bowl appearances? Of course, the Kansas City Chiefs are among the league leaders in payroll.
8. Chicago Bears - $318.3 Million
- Highest paid player: Montez Sweet, $25.1 million
They're finally starting to look like a team on the rise. The Chicago Bears haven't had consecutive winning seasons in 20 years, but with the current roster construction, optimism abounds for 2026.
9. Carolina Panthers - $315.7 Million
- Highest paid player: Robert Hunt, $24.3 million
The Carolina Panthers haven't been good in a long time. It'd help if they could keep a coach for more than two straight years. Steps were taken in 2025, at least.
10. Baltimore Ravens - $313.9 Million
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- Highest paid player: Lamar Jackson, $34.4 million
One of the NFL's most consistent franchises, one that's always willing to roll with the big spenders if need be, the Baltimore Ravens remain a model of stability.
11. New England Patriots - $311.3 Million
- Highest paid player: Milton Williams, $28.5 million
After a few years in the wilderness, the New England Patriots returned to the pinnacle of the AFC in 2025. With their spending, they should stay there a while.
12. Detroit Lions - $310.9 Million
- Highest paid player: Jared Goff, $37.6 million
The Detroit Lions have some cap space, not a ton of dead money, and a roster built for success. Sure, some things are missing and a bit too much is tied up in just a couple of players relative to the rest of the roster, but things haven't dipped yet in Michigan.
13. Washington Commanders - $301.7 Million
- Highest paid player: Daron Payne, $27.9 million
The Washington Commanders have had one winning season since 2016. Does Jayden Daniels remain the future? Health would help, though at just around $10 million in a cap hit, the Commanders can find out.
14. New York Giants - $299.6 Million
- Highest paid player: Paulson Adebo, $24.2 million
It's absolutely fascinating that the two New York teams have two of the worst three winning percentages in the NFL in the 2020s. Spending isn't necessarily helping the Giants.
15. Denver Broncos - $299.4 Million
Highest paid player: Mike McGlinchey, $23.8 million
A franchise never afraid to spend money, the Denver Broncos have mostly hemmed and hawed in the AFC West lately. But with spending this high and coach Sean Payton at the helm, they're on the rise.
16. Tennessee Titans - $297.6 Million
- Highest paid player: Dan Moore, $26.3 million
Never known as a franchise to break the bank, the Tennessee Titans have finished 3-14 in each of the last two seasons. Even with modest spending, that's unacceptable.
17. Los Angeles Chargers - $294.2 Million
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- Highest paid player: Justin Herbert, $46.3 million
As of mid-May 2026, the Los Angeles Chargers are sitting pretty. They have almost $50 million in cap space coming off their third playoff season in the last four years.
18. Indianapolis Colts - $290.2 Million
- Highest paid player: DeForest Buckner, $26.6 million
The Indianapolis Colts are so close. Since 2020, they're the median team in the NFL, their .485 winning percentage ranking 17th. Their current salary at 18th fits the bill.
19. Jacksonville Jaguars - $282.3 Million
- Highest paid player: Trevor Lawrence, $24 million
Never a high-spending team, the Jacksonville Jaguars seem to have stumbled on something positive with the development of Lawrence at quarterback.
20. Minnesota Vikings - $282.4 Million
- Highest paid player: Justin Jefferson, $21.1 million
The Minnesota Vikings' two starting defensive tackles from last year - Jonathan Allen and Javon Hargrave - are taking up dead money, bringing this total lower. That, and quarterback J.J. McCarthy has a steal of a deal right now.
21. Las Vegas Raiders - $280.8 Million
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- Highest paid player: Maxx Crosby, $35.8 million
Christian Wilkins' nearly $30 million cap hit takes a bulk of dead money, leaving less to go with the active roster. They now have a No. 1 pick at quarterback in Fernando Mendoza, but the Las Vegas Raiders are a bit of a mess right now.
22. Buffalo Bills - $279.4Million
- Highest paid player: Josh Allen, $44.2 million
Is the Buffalo Bills' Super Bowl window beginning to close? Probably. But given the market size and financials, what Buffalo has done over the last decade or so has been impressive.
23. Green Bay Packers - $275 Million
- Highest paid player: Jordan Love, $36.1 million
With neither too many albatross-like contracts currently on the roster or in dead money, the Green Bay Packers sitting at 19th actually seems about right.
24. San Francisco 49ers - $267.6 Million
- Highest paid player: Brock Purdy, $23.7 million
Not many teams have done more with less this decade than the San Francisco 49ers, who don't have a ton of dead money weighing their books down.
25. Atlanta Falcons - $259.1 Million
- Highest paid player: Chris Lindstrom, $26.2 million
The Atlanta Falcons haven't had a winning record since 2017, the year after they went to the Super Bowl. Financial mismanagement is part of why.
26. Arizona Cardinals - $257.9 Million
- Highest paid player: Budda Baker, $19.2 million
Only two teams in the NFC have worse records since 2020 than the Arizona Cardinals. Given their ranking here, it's hardly a surprise.
27. Philadelphia Eagles - $255.7 Million
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- Highest paid player: Jalen Hurts, $31.9 million
The Philadelphia Eagles have the third-best winning percentage in the NFL - and the best in the NFC - in the 2020s. A well-oiled machine of an organization.
28. Houston Texans - $251.6 Million
- Highest paid player: Danielle Hunter, $16.1 million
The Houston Texans have found themselves the best team in the NFL South each of the last three seasons. They're spending money, occasionally wisely.
29. New Orleans Saints - $227.9 Million
- Highest paid player: Cesar Ruiz, $14.2 million
With four players who make more than $10 million against the cap on the active roster and five who make more than $10 million against the cap in dead money, yeah, the New Orleans Saints fit here.
30. Cleveland Browns - $227.2 Million
- Highest paid player: Deshaun Watson, $40.9 million
The Browns enter training camp with a quarterback battle between Watson and second-year pro Shedeur Sanders, whose 2026 cap hits are nearly $40 million apart.
31. New York Jets - $219 Million
- Highest paid player: Brandon Stephens, $13.9 million
Aaron Rodgers and Justin Fields combined for $48 million of dead money to the New York Jets' cap hit. Regardless, given the team has been the worst in the NFL in the 2020s, is it a surprise to see them here?
32. Miami Dolphins - $150.5 Million
- Highest paid player: Zach Sieler, $11.4 million
The Miami Dolphins are here because of dead money. No team in the NFL is paying more to players who are no longer with the team than Miami. Tua Tagovailoa leads the way with a $55.4 million cap hit.
