Agent's Take: Exploring what a cap on exploding QB salaries could look like, steps necessary for it to happen
CBSN
Some NFL owners have reportedly discussed the matter recently
Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford was the NFL's highest-paid player at $27 million per year when the 2017 regular season began. He had just signed a five-year, $135 million contract extension.
Quarterback salaries skyrocketed over the next few years. By the start of the 2023 regular season, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow was the league's highest-paid player with his five-year, $275 million extension averaging $55 million per year.
The top of the quarterback market more than doubled during those six years. By contrast, the salary cap increased by 34.61% from $167 million in 2017 to $224.8 million in 2023. Even if there hadn't been a sharp decrease in the salary cap in 2021 because of the COVID pandemic, the growth in quarterback salaries would still easily dwarf the growth in salary cap over that span.
