There's more than one way to skin a cat. The old idiom can apply to NFL roster construction under the salary cap.The ' lopsided lo s to the in XLVIII led to aggre sivene s in free agency to strengthen the defense before a championship window with Hall of Fame quarterback closed. The moves paid dividends. Denver won the Super Bowl two years later. willingne https://www.prodtredwings.com/madison-bowey-women-jersey s to consistently undercut the quarterback market allowed the to a semble a more talented roster than they would have otherwise, which resulted in his final three Super Bowl rings with New England before leaving for the in 2020 free agency. The took advantage of having quarterback on a cost-contained rookie contract to win Super Bowl LIV.The 's five most top-heavy teams have been identified. Three methods were used to determine the teams: (1) the most players in the top 10 by average yearly salary at various positions, (2) the most players with top 10 2021 salary cap numbers at each position, and (3) the top 5 2021 salary cap hits on each team. More weight was given for being among the top 5 in average per year and with the positional cap numbers. Average yearly salary strictly measures multi-year contracts. Players on one-year franchise tenders like the Washington Football Team's were excluded. Otherwise, he would be the league's https://www.prodtredwings.com/frans-nielsen-jersey highest-paid offensive guard.The average yearly salary has also been modified with traded players to reflect the cost to the acquiring team. For example, Odell Beckham, Jr. signed a five-year, $90 million contract extension with the in 2018 averaging $18 million per year to make him the NFL's highest-paid wide receiver. The deal still puts in him a tie for the https://www.prodtredwings.com/kris-draper-men-jersey league's fifth highest-paid wide receiver. He is not in the top 10 for these purposes because he had five years for $76.5 million ($15.3 million per year) left on his contract when he was traded to the Browns the following offseason.Similarly, wide receiver , who is the NFL's second-highest-paid receiver at $22 million per year, falls outside of the top 10. The are only responsible for the three remaining years on his contract worth $38.326 million after acquiring him in June. The same holds true for quarterbacks and with the top 10 average yearly salary calculations after their respective offseason trades to the and . 1. Kansas City ChiefsTop 10 By Average Salary (seven players): Patrick Mahomes (No. 1 QB); (No. 6 WR); (No. 2 TE); (No. 1 OG); (No. 6 Edge); (No. 4 DT); Tyrann Mathieu (tied-No. 7 S)Top 10 By Salary Cap Number (five players): Tyreek Hill (No. 5 WR); Travis Kelce (No. 3 TE); Frank Clark (No. 1 Edge); (No. 5 LB); (No. 1 S)Top 5 Cap Hits (No. 2 in NFL): $80,561,015Frank Clark (Edge): $25.8 millionTyrann Mathieu (S): $19,733,334Tyreek Hill (WR): $15,850,500Anthony Hitchens (LB): $10,635,515Chris Jones (DT) $8,541,666Seven players in the top 10 by average salary are tied for the most in the NFL with the . Kansas https://www.prodtredwings.com/adam-erne-men-jersey City is one of two teams where the top 5 cap hits are collectively over $80 million.The Chiefs maintained roster flexibility because of the way the richest contract in American team sports history is structured. The 10-year, $450 million extension worth up to $475 million with incentives Mahomes signed is backloaded. By design, the first time Mahomes' cap number will be above $30 million is in 2022. His 2021 cap number is under $7.5 million because the Chiefs converted Mahomes' $21,716,905 third-day-of-the-league-year roster bonus to a signing bonus, which created just under $17.375 million of cap room, in March.The Chiefs are the NFL's only team with two $20 million-per-year pa s rushers. There are just 10 pa s rushers in the league with contracts https://www.prodtredwings.com/dennis-cholowski-kids-jersey averaging at least $20 million per year. Frank Clark signed a five-year, $104 million contract with $62.305 million in guarantees ($43.805 million fully guaranteed at signing) when he was acquired from the Seahawks for a 2019 first-round pick and a 2020 second-round pick shortly before the 2019 . His $25.8 million cap number is the league's largest for a non-quarterback. The Chiefs gave Chris Jones a four-year, $80 million contract containing $60 million in guarantees (worth up to $85 million with incentives) last offseason after he was designated as a franchise player.Joe Thuney was made the league's highest-paid guard in https://www.prodtredwings.com/chris-terry-kids-jersey free agency by giving him a five-year, $80 million contract with $46.89 million of guarantees. Tyrann Mathieu, who is in the final year of a three-year, $42 million contract, easily has the league's largest cap hit for a safety at $19,733,334. Top 10 By Average Salary (six players): (No. 3 QB); (tied-No. 2 RB); (No. 3 WR); (No. 3 OG); (No. 5 Edge); (No. 9 LB)Top 10 By Salary Cap Number (six players): Dak Prescott (No. 10 QB); Ezekiel Elliott (No. 6 RB); Amari Cooper (No. 1 WR); Zack Martin (No. 7 OG); DeMarcus Lawrence (No. 2 Edge); Jaylon Smith (No. 6 LB)Top 5 Cap Hits (No. 1 in NFL): $83.95 millionDeMarcus Lawrence (Edge): $25 millionAmari Cooper (WR): $22 millionDak Prescott (QB): $17.2 millionZack Martin (OG): $9.95 millionJaylon Smith (LB) $9.8 millionThe Cowboys lead the NFL https://www.prodtredwings.com/albert-johansson-jersey in cap resources devoted to the top 5. Dallas has the third most players with top 10 cap numbers at the different positions. Additionally, only two teams have more players in the top 10 for average salary than the Cowboys.Dallas is one of two teams with a $20 million-per-year non-quarterback on each side of the ball. DeMarcus Lawrence signed a five-year, $105 million contract, which averages $21 million per year in 2019 when he was designated as a franchise player for a second straight time. Amari Cooper got a five-year, $100 million contract to remain with the Cowboys in free agency last year. His league leading cap hit for a wide receiver is nearly 22.5% more than the next figure, which is ( ) https://www.prodtredwings.com/dylan-larkin-women-jersey at $17.98 million.There's also a high-priced quarterback in Dallas. Dak Prescott received a four-year, $160 million contract averaging $40 million per year with an NFL record $66 million signing bonus. He is the third highest-paid player in the NFL. The six-year, $84 million extension Zack Martin signed in 2018 is holding up. His $14 million per year average is still third among offensive guards. The same can be said for Ezekiel Elliott. He became the league's highest-paid running back in 2019 with a six-year, $90 million averaging $15 million https://www.prodtredwings.com/andreas-athanasiou-men-jersey per year. Seven running backs have signed contracts averaging at least $12 million per year after Elliott. Only ( ) four-year extension averaging just over $16 million per year has topped Elliott.The Cowboys haven't gotten a good return on investment with Jaylon Smith since he signed an extension in 2019 where he gave up five unrestricted free agent years valued at $12.8 million per year. He's a potential salary cap casualty in 2022.Top 10 By Average Salary (six players): (No. 6 RB); (No. 6 TE); (No. 9 OG); (No. 5 C);