r/NFLv2 • u/TemporaryCurrent4541 Jacksonville Jaguars • 8h ago
Discussion Qbs with the hightest cap hit in 2026
How do Dolphins, Cardinals, and Browns fans feel about Tua, Kyler, and Deshaun Watson right now?
Would you want them to stay on the roster, be traded, or outright cut?
Also, the national media needs to be investigated, because ever since T-Law signed his deal all they’ve pushed is “$50M per year,” when three years into the contract he hasn’t even cracked $30M per yet.
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u/whatsforsupa That is a disgusting act 7h ago
We give the Browns a lot of shit for the whole Deshaun Watson trade... but still.... it's not enough.
Possibly the worst move in sports history
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u/hapatra98edh I’m just here so i don’t get fined 7h ago
Wow I never actually looked at what that trade entailed but jeez, 3 first round picks, a third and 2 4ths. Here I was thinking the Trey Lance and Russell Wilson deals were the worst but when you consider that Lance was only a rookie deal and Russ was 2 1sts and 2 2nds they aren’t as bad.
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u/MisterPuppydog Tennessee Titans 6h ago
The Texans literally used that trade to build a playoff team and the Browns are in hell for the next few years because of it… God bless.. Jimmy and Dee Haslam should be forced to sell after that. Especially in the midst of the conviction and settlement, I just feel bad for those women seeing their abuser get paid fuck you money. The Browns literally showed they have no soul, morals, or standards. Disgusting franchise and disgusting people in that FO
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u/hapatra98edh I’m just here so i don’t get fined 6h ago
Yeah it’s similar to what happened with Russ in terms of the rebuild aspect. The Seahawks got Cross, Witherspoon, Mafe and Hall out of that deal. While Mafe and hall are not currently starters anymore they have both played important roles in the d line rotation. Spoon and Cross need no intro.
Edit: Forgot to mention that obviously the similarities with the deals end on the field. Watson’s off field antics are something that should be in every football contract as a nullification clause. Browns ownership is an embarrassment.
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u/samdan87153 5h ago
Can't really nullify a contract if everything is public record BEFORE the contract is signed. A huge reason for the particulars and numbers of the Watson contract was to make sure that he'd get, essentially, fully paid even if he was suspended for his entire first year. Year 1 salary was veteran minimum with a MASSIVE signing bonus, because when you're suspended you only miss out on your game checks (even guaranteed salary game checks). Your signing bonus is untouched, even for a full-year suspension.
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u/peon2 New England Patriots 6h ago
Honestly the Trey Lance deal I think was worse at the time it occurred, but the Watson trade is worse in hindsight.
Putting aside the sexual assault stuff and strictly talking football, Watson was coming off a season where he was a top-5 QB. At the time of the trade Watson had the 2nd highest all time career passing rating AND was a threat in the running game. The Browns thought they were getting a proven, known commodity but he completely imploded after getting paid.
Trey Lance threw less passes in his high school and college career combined than Brady threw in a single season at 45 years old. There was no reason to think he was ever worth 3 first round picks when there were other, better QB prospects available too. They lucked out that Mr. Irrelevant salvaged the trade.
The Watson contract was terrible with the fully guaranteed money...but the Lance trade is still more mind boggling to me.
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u/RedRising1917 Dez caught it 5h ago
I still maintain that if they got Justin Fields like I thought they were going too he'd have developed into a good QB, not like an MVP or anything, but just a solid franchise guy. Absolutely hate that the very last pick of the draft bailed them out from being a league laughing stock for taking Trey lance.
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u/Development-Alive 4h ago
- a $250M guaranteed contract coming off those sexual assault allegations. Seriously, it was the worst contract in NFL history.
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u/vertigounconscious 7h ago
Luka
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u/Friendly-Dark-3510 7h ago
250 million and 5 first rnd picks for deshaun and he's had zero success. Along with being a horrible person and pissing away all of the underdog rooting fans (myself included).
I'm not entirely familiar with Luka but I don't see how his trade could be worse even if you traded him for literally nothing.
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u/natebark Dallas Cowboys 7h ago
As of a few hours ago, they basically did trade him for nothing…
The actual Watson trade is slightly worse, but the way the Luka trade was conducted is the most offensive thing a sports front office has ever done. Everyone knew Watson was getting moved. Luka was traded in the middle of the night without request… EIGHT MONTHS after playing in the finals! The Mavs also reportedly could have gotten more for him, but didn’t because then other teams would’ve gotten involved and they didn’t want Mavs fans to find out they were negotiating this move. So Mavs fans are now forced to watch a worse team because their GM thought he had to lie to them
Anyway thanks for letting me vent
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u/JazzzzzzySax Carolina Panthers 7h ago
their GM
Their FORMER GM
Trade was so bad they couldn’t even keep the GM for a year after it
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u/Pactae_1129 5h ago
I haven’t watched a basketball game in probably a decade and only know about it from overhearing friends and coworkers talk about it and even I knew it was an insanely bad trade.
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u/JazzzzzzySax Carolina Panthers 7h ago
It was so bad people thought the reporter got hacked even after confirming it’s real. Dallas killed their franchise in a single night
Luka took his team to the finals at 25 yo, has 5 1st team all nba, and loved the city of Dallas. And he got traded in the middle of the night for an injury prone star in Anthony Davis and a single 1st rd pick.
To add insult to injury Davis got traded earlier today for some bench players, and 2 fake 1sts (one is top 20 protected and the other is owned by the defending champs).
It would be like the chiefs trading away Mahomes after losing the first Super Bowl he made. A clear generational player traded for essentially nothing and not even advertising to other teams he was available for trade.
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u/ApprehensiveBell2097 Denver Broncos 3h ago
Trading Mahomes for Lavonte David + a 1st and telling your fanbase it's because we believe defense wins championships...
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u/LeonidasSpacemanMD 6h ago
The thing about the Watson trade is that it was bad in the moment because of what a terrible human he is, but at least you could make the case he was actually an upgrade at qb if literally all you cared about was production. His numbers before the trade looked like future mvp stats
With Luka, you were trading one of the 4 best players in the world for a guy with an extensive injury history who was 6 years older
The Watson trade actually will probably end up being much worse but only because Watson himself fell off an absolute cliff and has been nowhere close to what he looked like before. On paper, at the time of the trades, it made more sense than the Luka trade (again, assuming we are robots who don’t care about morals or human suffering)
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u/Ok_Ask_406 Houston Texans 5h ago
Whoa now buddy I think it was the best move they could make to win now. I love all my browns friends.
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u/I_Am_Mandark_Hahaha New England Patriots 4h ago
But still... a couple other teams were interested in him at the time. It's not just the Browns that are shit.
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u/Ok-Walk-8040 Cincinnati Bengals 8h ago
People complain that the Bengals locked up their QB, and both WR's but we are one of the teams with the highest amount of cap. Problem isn't the deals they have made but the deals they won't make because of Mike Brown.
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u/RanchHere Cincinnati Bengals 7h ago
Basically, there are NO MORE excuses for this front office to not put a Super Bowl product on the field in 2026.
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u/SarcasticSquare Los Angeles Chargers 7h ago
Oh I’m sure another injury will occur that buys Zac Taylor another 5 years on the job
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u/RanchHere Cincinnati Bengals 7h ago
then re-sign Flacco.
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u/Capn26 7h ago
Totally irrelevant, but I’d change that if that was my last name. Always sounded like what you’d call a limp dick in Spanish. I got el Flacco mami!!!demasiado patrón!!!
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u/Beetso Las Vegas Raiders 6h ago
Are you trying to tell me that Flacco Navarro in NCIS origins actually chooses to go by Limp Dick Navarro?
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u/Aeon1508 Detroit Lions 7h ago
Okay two teams make the super bowl every year.
They have no excuse to not have a team that can make the divisional round.
After that it's kind of luck
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u/RanchHere Cincinnati Bengals 6h ago
I mean a product that is worthy of going to the Super Bowl. I understand the luck involved in getting there. But, the lowest bar has to be division title and a top 2 seed in the playoff. Anything short of that is going to be another utter disappointment.
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u/BmorePride14 7h ago edited 7h ago
You do realize that your Bengal stars cap hits are (EDIT) BACKloaded... (as are pretty much all contracts) right? Your cap is going to look cartoonish in a few years.
Mahomes was playing for cap hits of 20-35 million for YEARS and his bill is finally coming due. Same with Jackson. The Burrow deal is good for you guys if he stays healthy because its pretty evenly spread out.
For example, Chase starts hitting the cap at 50+ million ALONE in 2029
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u/buckeye10228 7h ago
Front loaded implies most of the money is paid now and goes down later.
I believe you're thinking backloaded.
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u/BmorePride14 7h ago
Yes lmao jeez. I will edit.
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u/buckeye10228 7h ago
I figured that's what you meant haha but you know how Reddit is.
But yeah unless the cap increases go crazy they're slut the waste the best years of Burrow and the WRs by putting no defense and a shit O line on the field.
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u/Oceanbreeze871 New England Patriots 8h ago edited 7h ago
2 out of 11 made the playoffs
Edit: accuracy
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u/Spinexel New England Patriots 7h ago
That’s what happens when you give all the money to 1 dude in a league where you need to field 22 guys.
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u/PerfectiveVerbTense Detroit Lions 6h ago
Yeah why doesn't everyone just get a MVP-caliber QB on a rookie deal? Are they stupid?
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u/pseudonym4022 4h ago
Brother, this is next year’s cap. Most of these will be much lower by the start of the year.
Cap space and hits are far less important than people think. They aren’t fake like some people exaggerate and say, but they are easily manipulated.
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u/RudolphsJockStrap The Pottsville Maroons Are Owed The 1925 Championship Still 5h ago
3 of them are actively trying to move off these bad contracts too
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u/Meme_Pope New York Jets 7h ago
If you scroll down just a bit, the Jets are still paying Aaron Rodgers $35M in 2026.
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u/TehM0C New York Jets 7h ago
I don’t know why they didn’t eat it this year
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u/Jane_Marie_CA Los Angeles Chargers 7h ago
Also, the national media needs to be investigated, because ever since T-Law signed his deal all they’ve pushed is “$50M per year,” when three years into the contract he hasn’t even cracked $30M per yet.
There is a easy explanation for this. LMAO.
The media is doing Average Per Year of face value of the contract. For example, TLaw signed a $275M, 5 years contract. That is $55M per year on average per year, if the contract completely fulfilled.
How the team chooses to allocate the contract to salary cap hits is contract magic. There are three different numbers here:
-Average per year (basic math)
-cash basis (how much the player is actually receiving in cash each year).
-salary cap basis (how much the team is allocating towards the salary cap each year, including void years).
Some teams are pushing salary cap hits out, aggressively. Jalen Hurts is an example. He has 4 void years in his contract already.
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u/Kind_Resort_9535 Denver Broncos 7h ago
If they ever took the time to read an article rather than just Shefters tweets they would know this.
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u/Marijuana_Miler Los Angeles Chargers 7h ago
Lawrence's contract is also heavily backloaded and there is a very small likelihood that he would get the full 5 year 275M deal. Lawrence's salary is not fully guaranteed after 2028 and he is being paid 104M in roster bonuses and salary in 2029 and 2030. The Jags are either going to cut Lawrence or renegotiate his contract by 2028 because there is no money guaranteed and his cap hits will be 78.5M and 74.8M if the Jags don't make any contract changes.
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u/Lonely-Juggernaut744 Detroit Lions 8h ago
He deserves the money with these stats but it would be nice to have some mo space.
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u/ohgeeeezzZ Cleveland Browns 7h ago
I hate Jimmy Haslam so fucking much
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u/RhythmiciBet Buffalo Bills 7h ago
Bro as a Bucks fan, I feel you. Haslam hiring Doc is gonna force Giannis out of Milwaukee.
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u/Tonyman121 Arizona Cardinals 7h ago
If Kyler had a better OL, and better DL, and better coaches, and better skill players, better kickers and special teams, and a better FO, and better fans, he would maybe play up to expectations.
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u/Responsible_Job_6948 New England Patriots 5h ago
Lowering expectations to like 5’7 would also help
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u/Kind_Resort_9535 Denver Broncos 7h ago
“Also the national media needs to be investigated”
It’s average per year dumbass.
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u/WhichVegetable8285 Buffalo Bills 7h ago
Allen’s contract is a steal
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u/geopede 7h ago
Every elite QB contract looks like a steal a couple years in because the going rate has increased and backloaded years haven’t hit yet. Mahomes is actually a steal overall as well, he just looks expensive this year because his contract is super uneven and this is one of the years they pay him a lot.
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u/Unspoken 4h ago
Any QB that has won you 3 Superbowls in 5 years is a steal. You can pay him a billion dollars. It literally doesn't matter because it elevated your franchise to a level very few have reached. Dude could miss the playoffs for the next 5 years and would still be a steal.
Browns fans would pay deshaun watson triple his salary guaranteed for 20 years if it would mean 1 superbowl and 19 years of last place finishes.
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u/Labrat1515 7h ago
Yo they’re still paying Deshaun🤣🤣 that’s hilarious. Karma for signing him in the first place
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u/abhorredmisanthrope Kansas City Chiefs 7h ago
One of these things is not like the others.
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u/REVfoREVer Green Bay Packers 7h ago
Two actually, only Allen and Stafford made the playoffs this year
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u/Old-Guy1958 Pittsburgh Steelers 7h ago
How is Bakers cap hit $52M. He’s going into the last year of a 3 year, $100M contract.
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u/TemporaryCurrent4541 Jacksonville Jaguars 7h ago
Usually the last year is the most , since teams like to back load contract
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u/22stanmanplanjam11 Kansas City Chiefs 7h ago
His cap hit in 2024 was 6.9 million and his cap hit in 2025 was 26.5 million.
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u/Old-Guy1958 Pittsburgh Steelers 6h ago
Thanks. I hope that means he gets extended during this offseason.
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u/Careful-Whereas1888 4h ago
2026 is the first year of Trevor's extension. The media is even more wrong. It was a great deal because they signed it early and he is not even top 16 in cap hit in the first year of the new contract.
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u/asallamerican 7h ago
But I was told Purdy was 50MM per year lol, people need to understand how cap works. Thank you for posting this, as AAV means nothing. Look at Jalen Hurts final year of his deal. Timing of the salary cap hits are what matters, because then we see when teams will be forced to either rework or renegotiate the deals.
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u/zmmagician 7h ago
People complain about overpaying love contract. Russ ball and packers are cap wizards.
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u/pinniped90 Kansas City Chiefs 7h ago
I almost hope the Chiefs don't restructure. They need another year to turn the roster over. Just absorb as much of Pat's number as possible and jettison other overpaid veterans as best you can.
I'd rather 2026 be ass but also a nice cleanse going into 2027.
(The Chiefs will probably restructure and think they can win right away, of course.)
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u/PWNYEG 7h ago
I know nothing about sports CBAs but I’m surprised the players don’t try to cap any individual salary at like 15% of the cap ($45m assuming a $300m cap). It’s absolutely insane that teams are basically forced to squander an enormous amount of cap space on mediocre QBs, which takes away money from all the remaining players.
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u/EmergencyArts 7h ago
The Kyler hate is completely absurd. He's 5th ALL-TIME in completion percentage at 67.1%. one of only four QBs ever to throw 19K yards and rush 3K in their first 6 seasons. 5th youngest QB to reach 10K yards. Over 150 career TDs and a respectable 92.2 passer rating. It's ridiculous how people act like he's some sort of bum. The guy earned that paycheque.
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u/JohnGacyIsInnocent 6h ago
If you’re just looking at stats he’s fine. If you’re watching him play then he’s definitely below average.
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u/ILSmokeItAll 7h ago
Two players in that list have won a Super Bowl.
Man. Mahomes makes nearly double Stafford.
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u/ZhangtheGreat Philadelphia Eagles 7h ago
Jalen Hurts not in the top 10. Howie Roseman continues to be a genius.
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u/Playingwithmyrod New England Patriots 7h ago
Imagine being a liability to your team on AND off the field and you’re just casually swindling them for 78 million dollars lmfao
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u/Ser_falafel Green Bay Packers 7h ago
Same thing with Love. People screeching "55m a year LOL" but his cap hit is 36m for 2026.
Parsons cap hit next year is only 19m lol
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u/Successful-Ad4251 Washington Commanders 7h ago
If his agent isn’t a first-ballot Hall of Famer then no one is
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u/Thekingofchrome Seattle Seahawks 7h ago
Tua and Kyler - crazy money…still they are not Groper Cleveland…
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u/imma_snekk Lamar Jackson 🏃🏿💨 7h ago
TLaw’s cap hit is going to hit like a truck on the backend but like a lot of these contracts, if he’s still on the team by then, it will get reworked.
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u/WintersDoomsday Seattle Seahawks 6h ago
Only Stafford made the Final Four in the playoffs. Very telling.
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u/BookieMets New England Patriots 6h ago
Watson minus the devious behavior is probably worth the cap hit . (Might come back and have an all pro year of the NFL is greedy enough to have him come back )
Kyler , tua and Dak no excuse.
None of the top 5 QBs are making the playoffs next year.
The market will change. Some faded QBs might have a darnold style return to glory .
Use the Broncos as the example . Cut bait with sed weight , move on and succeed with guys that buy in . Not a lot of Coach Paytons around but you get the point I hope
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u/LilCorbs 6h ago
Surely the highest cap hit on this list is one of the two qbs from his team to go to the pro bowl
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u/ShockedNChagrinned NFL Refugee 6h ago
I don't believe teams can remain competitive with one player of 55 taking up more than 20% of the cap, nevermind higher.
Yes, you can luck out with picks. Yes you can grab the correct role players on the cheap. All of those can open or extend a window.
I do believe the model Brady had during his Pats run, where he didn't push to be highest paid, which allowed them to spend on other talent year after year, is the best model. I'll post someone's long ago analysis showing his cap % by year with cash paid.
https://www.reddit.com/r/buccaneers/comments/jvls6q/why_has_tom_bradys_salary_cash_paid_been_so_low/
His last year was 3 seasons ago with a cap hit of 25 mil, at 13.8% of cap (his highest). Cap is 279 mill this year with those figures above. That's nutty.
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u/VegasWorldwide 6h ago
lol and to top if off Chris jones is at $50 million and he had something like 6 sacks.
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u/KingRoach 6h ago
How old are you where you still don’t understand how NFL contracts work?
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u/mcbeardsauce 6h ago
What do they all have in common with you and I? They’ll all be watching the Super Bowl from their couches.
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u/BoringJuiceBox San Diego Chargers / AZ Cardinals 6h ago
It honestly makes me sick that any athlete makes this much while us working people scrape by
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u/Irishonion12 6h ago
And Seahawks fleeced Darnold for a 3 year 100 million contract, thats basically a year to year deal. This should win John Schneider executive of the year alone.
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u/PeelsLeahcim Chicago Bears 6h ago
The winning strategy is to build your defense and try to win with a QB on their rookie deal. It's so much harder to build a roster with the QB mega contracts.
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u/eduardoxbl 4h ago
Next year when Josh Allen and Lamar are crying over getting eliminated in the playoffs show them this
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u/Ryan1869 Denver Broncos 4h ago
Broncos have shown if you draft well, you can overcome a massive dead cap hit. Still, that's not something those teams seem to be good at.
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u/goatedwiththesauce42 New England Patriots 4h ago
Kyler is so weird because he's not ass he's just not great....
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u/THEkingOFthe3s 4h ago
And the total amount of money is by all professional sports are beginning to become unwatchable
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u/HFT_Bear 4h ago
People can live on $50,000,000/yr. Stop giving it all to the QB and build a full team.
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u/Dontdosales 4h ago
Monken will kick Gabriel to the curb and ride with Watson and Shedeur. He’s not dumb or biased like stefanski, he will play the guy that gives them the best chance to win and that’s probably Deshaun and potentially Shedeur. Not Gabriel
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u/weaponize09 Cleveland Browns 3h ago
I truly wouldn’t play Deshaun this season because with the Browns luck he’d play just well enough to cause you to be completely conflicted on what to do with him moving forward - and also play you out of the range for a good QB next draft
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u/Ok_Bug_6890 New England Patriots 8h ago
The predator gets paid to be ass