Fretting about your favorite team blundering into salary-cap hell? Worried that a newly signed free agent just cost too much? Slapping your forehead over the superior values that slipped through your general manager's fingers this offseason? Bracing for your star QB to be given an extension that might close your team's competitive window forever?
I get it. Sweating about spending is a fine way to engage with pro football, especially now, when there isn't much to do besides continuing to chew over the personnel moves that dominated the earlier portion of the offseason. Then again ... the salary cap continues to rise, hitting the $279.2 million mark this season, which would figure to leave plenty of room to drop a decent amount of dough on Super Bowl-caliber talent.
To find out for sure, I embarked on a perfect July exercise: building The Best Team Money Can Buy, assembling the most imposing 53-man roster I could under the 2025 NFL salary cap.
Before we get to that, some caveats: I didn't have to worry about real-world logistics like dead money, accounting for future years or saving any space for contingency plans. I could pick players without having to develop them as drafted prospects or negotiate any contracts, taking advantage of quirks in the marketplace and extensions that backload the financial burden. I also did not have to grow this roster over several seasons or time out the opening of a competitive window. But I did find, thanks to a mix of that expansive cap and the number of reasonably priced stars on the positional rankings of 2025 cap hits, that it was possible to put together a top-flight roster without really having to sacrifice anywhere.
Here are some more ground rules, some of which I borrowed from the approach taken by my colleague Anthony Holzman-Escareno when he's taken on this challenge in previous years:
- A maximum of 24 players on rookie contracts were allowed, with the following per-round limitations: four who were first-round picks, four who were second-round picks, four who were third-round picks and up to 12 players drafted between Rounds 4 and 7. Players on rookie contracts are noted below, along with the round they were selected in. For example, a first-round pick is marked as R-1.
- Players set to play on fifth-year rookie options in 2025 and undrafted players did not count against the rookie-contract cap.
- All cap figures were sourced from Over The Cap.
- Players are listed with the age they will be on Sept. 4, when the 2025 NFL season is expected to kick off.
Here's how the final numbers tallied up:
- Total salary cap: $279,200,000
- Salary-cap space used: $278,962,059
- Salary-cap space remaining: $237,941
And here's the starting lineup:
Now, the full breakdown:
QUARTERBACK (2)
$32,292,534 total (11.6% of cap)
2025 cap number: $28,062,269
2025 cap number: $4,230,265 (R-1)
I could load up on all the star power I wanted elsewhere on the field, but this is the position that will determine the success of my roster. And while I admire the real-world savvy of teams that can calibrate the right supporting cast around a sensibly priced rookie or capable veteran, I didn't have to play those games in the realm of make-believe. With all $279.2 million of the cap at my disposal at this point, I could take anyone. In fact, I was tempted to build around Lamar Jackson's $43.5 million cap hit, just to play out my theory that it is possible to devote massive resources to a generational talent and still field a winning team. I just couldn't justify passing on one of the only QBs I'd take over Jackson in a start-from-scratch situation, especially when Patrick Mahomes is also a generational talent with a cap hit -- ranked 14th at the position -- that makes him, absurdly, a value choice. As for the backup spot, I didn't want to settle for the kind of safe, replacement-level vet so many teams default to when I could earmark a measly $4.2 million for someone who could actually win games if needed. To me, using one of my four first-round slots on Bo Nix is eminently worthwhile if it means safeguarding this super-team against any bad luck with Mahomes.
RUNNING BACK (4)
$10,025,204 total (3.6% of cap)
2025 cap number: $6,661,000
2025 cap number: $1,142,888 (R-4)
2025 cap number: $1,119,777 (R-7)
2025 cap number: $1,101,539 (R-5)
When I saw I could roster the best back in the game today for just $6.7 million against the cap (less than half the $14.45 million the Colts are set to use on Daniel Jones this year), did I jump out of my seat and do a little dance? No, but I could have. Taking advantage of Saquon Barkley's ludicrously low hit for the upcoming season feels a bit like a cheat, knowing that number will rise as he moves deeper into his contract. Then again, it's in keeping with the way teams deal with the cap, engineering extensions like the one Barkley received this offseason to minimize immediate budgetary pain. Being able to add Bucky Irving, Isiah Pacheco and Chase Brown, all on their rookie deals, made filling out the rest of the position group a breeze. Last season alone, the four backs above rampaged their way to 5,536 combined scrimmage yards and 35 total touchdowns on 1,010 touches -- and that's with Pacheco losing significant time to injury. All that ball-moving power will cost just $10 million against the cap, the kind of value that should make the fictional subreddit devoted to my fictional team overflow with praise, which is really what this is all about.
WIDE RECEIVERS (6)
$32,794,446 total (11.7% of cap)
2025 cap number: $15,167,600
2025 cap number: $1,091,245 (R-5)
2025 cap number: $2,271,633 (R-2)
2025 cap number: $2,586,788
2025 cap number: $8,577,180
2025 cap number: $3,100,000
The Chiefs have spent the past few seasons trying to work out the right mix of receivers for Patrick Mahomes to throw to, but I did not have that problem. As with Saquon Barkley above, Justin Jefferson is one of the top talents at his position, a prodigious pass-catcher whose partnership with Mahomes would generate enough electricity to power a small town -- and yet, his 2025 cap figure is nestled cozily low among WRs, at 12th, just below CeeDee Lamb and just above Jakobi Meyers. As a former fifth-round pick heading into Year 3, Puka Nacua's hit is so low ($1.1 million) and his on-field presence is so impactful (his 1,157 career yards after the catch rank fourth-highest in the NFL over the past two seasons) that I basically had no choice but to pencil him in across from Jefferson. With two legitimate stars alongside him, Ladd McConkey should be even better in the slot than he was as the Chargers' main receiving option in 2024, when he finished with the second-most yards out of that alignment in the NFL (801), per NGS. Khalil Shakir was given an extension after emerging as Josh Allen's top target in 2024; his cap figure doubles in 2026 and jumps to double-digits in each year after. But that is not my problem. For now, his miniscule 2025 hit allows me to make a luxury choice in the extreme at WR5, where I set aside $8.6 million for Nico Collins, who ranks ninth in the NFL over the past two seasons in receiving yards (2,303) and sixth in yards per catch (15.6). KaVontae Turpin is here as the NFL's premium kick returner, having posted the highest per-return average (33.5 yards) in a single season by any player since Jim Duncan managed 35.4 in 1970.
TIGHT ENDS (3)
$13,611,201 total (4.9% of cap)
2025 cap number: $4,122,451 (R-1)
2025 cap number: $5,956,666
2025 cap number: $3,532,084 (R-4)
Thanks to the rookie pay scale, one of the hottest tight end prospects to hit the game in decades (Brock Bowers) and a rising talent (Isaiah Likely) each take up less space against the cap than a solid veteran who will turn 31 in September (Evan Engram). Bowers and Engram have both shown they can carry the load as the top pass-catching target in an offense, while Likely has tallied 11 TD grabs over the past two seasons, with a healthy yards-per-catch mark of 12.3 over that span. With this crew rounding out Patrick Mahomes' skill-position support, the two-time MVP should basically be able to go anywhere he wants with the ball at any given time. And moving on to Bowers would probably help cure any residual heartache Mahomes might feel about playing without Travis Kelce for the first time in his career.
OFFENSIVE LINE (9)
$44,983,458 total (16.1% of cap)
2025 cap number: $15,235,233
2025 cap number: $6,553,000
2025 cap number: $1,714,594 (R-2)
2025 cap number: $1,295,579 (R-3)
2025 cap number: $9,540,000
2025 cap number: $3,532,084 (R-4)
2025 cap number: $3,668,000
2025 cap number: $1,154,968 (R-4)
2025 cap number: $2,290,000
Picking linemen from the best of the best gave me a chance to avert another persistent bugaboo that has afflicted Patrick Mahomes lately: iffy protection. To install a starting line of Jordan Mailata, Landon Dickerson, Zach Frazier, Dominick Puni and Penei Sewell, I'm taking on a combined hit of $34.3 million -- which works out to 12.3% of the cap for all five, and $6.86 million per player. That's a good price to pay to provide Mahomes and Saquon Barkley with a pressure-repellent, road-grading wall. Mailata was Pro Football Focus' top-ranked offensive lineman last season; Sewell was third among tackles, while Puni was sixth and Dickerson was eighth among guards and Frazier finished fifth among centers. Among the backups, Zach Tom is the most exciting -- PFF gave him a better pass-blocking grade than Sewell, though I gave the starting edge to the Lions stud because I really want to see him and Barkley laying waste to defenders in their path together. Allegretti is an affordable, effective veteran. In the mix to be the Colts' starting center in real life, Bortolini brings appealing upside (and an even more appealing cap figure) to the backup gig on my team. And Jenkins' one-year prove-it deal in Cleveland puts him in the right price range to serve as veteran depth.
EDGE RUSHERS (6)
$61,860,240 total (22.2% of cap)
2025 cap number: $21,922,120
2025 cap number: $24,007,000
2025 cap number: $5,877,000
2025 cap number: $5,695,889 (R-2)
2025 cap number: $1,198,231 (R-4)
2025 cap number: $3,160,000
I was happy -- thrilled, even -- to give the biggest share of cap space over to this position group. Putting two super-human QB-chasers on the field together is a supremely rational way to use $45.9 million; only the Quarterbacks and Linemen's Lobby would object to paying up for both Garrett and Parsons, who have combined for 112.5 sacks in the four seasons since Parsons entered the NFL. The cap numbers of Rousseau and Bonitto might be a bit stiff for second-wave pass rushers, but it's worth the splurge to subject opposing offenses to a constant barrage of pressure with this group. Plus, should Parsons land an extension in the coming months that makes him more affordable in the short term, my pretend GM gig here will only get easier. The coverage abilities and versatility of Bonitto, Parsons and Herbig -- who provides silly value as a former fourth-rounder heading into Year 3 of his rookie contract -- should help the defensive coordinator of this pretend group (come on down, Vic Fangio) keep opponents on their heels. Like his new real-life Commanders teammate Allegretti above, Wise profiles as a useful veteran with an attractive cap hit.
INTERIOR DEFENSIVE LINE (5)
$15,494,321 total (5.5% of cap)
2025 cap number: $5,947,141 (R-1)
2025 cap number: $1,470,401 (R-3)
2025 cap number: $5,083,333
2025 cap number: $1,049,446 (R-7)
2025 cap number: $1,944,000
The interior D-linemen collectively take up about as much cap space as left tackle Jordan Mailata does by himself -- but that's just an extremely favorable timing-driven wrinkle, with the headlining pair of young game-wreckers here still at least a year away from breaking free from the rookie wage scale. Jalen Carter finished ninth among defensive tackles in pressures (45) in 2024, per NGS, and outpaced everyone in that category in the postseason with 14. I'm jumping at the chance to grab a still-developing front-line force before his price tag explodes. Kobie Turner, meanwhile, finished the playoffs with the highest pressure rate (15.4%) of any player to log 50-plus pass-rush snaps. Though Jared Verse might have seized the spotlight in L.A. with his Defensive Rookie of the Year award, Turner is still a centerpiece of the Rams' recent defensive rebuild, having logged 17 sacks over the past two seasons. One of Turner's newest real-life teammates can help gum up opposing rushing attacks; Poona Ford graded as the third-best run-stopping interior lineman (and fifth-best interior lineman overall) in the NFL last season, per PFF. For depth, let's ride with a promising third-year pro (Moro Ojomo, who is poised to step into a bigger role for Philly) and a seasoned vet (Davon Godchaux, who's totaled 250 tackles over the past four seasons).
LINEBACKERS (5)
$30,071,913 total (10.8% of cap)
2025 cap number: $16,058,000
2025 cap number: $4,386,000
2025 cap number: $7,500,000
2025 cap number: $1,091,245 (R-5)
2025 cap number: $1,036,668 (R-undrafted)
Yes, I did devote the fourth-highest individual cap expenditure on this roster to an off-ball linebacker. I know that might seem countercultural or even dangerous in today's NFL, but some of us are just built different, I guess. The recently extended Fred Warner brings the kind of defensive dominance that -- sure, I'll say it -- you can't put a price on. Plus, the realities of the linebacker market mean I can still slot in another do-it-all monster alongside Warner without having to spend much; even after cashing in with a new deal in Philly, Zack Baun will count for less than $5 million against the cap in 2025. Zaire Franklin is a tackling machine, having paced the NFL in total tackles in 2024 while tying for the second-most tackles against the run (94), per NGS. Henry To'oTo'o and Ivan Pace are defensive-backbone types who should have no compunction about helping on special teams.
CORNERBACKS (6)
$19,316,059 total (6.9% of cap)
2025 cap number: $8,370,000
2025 cap number: $2,648,570
2025 cap number: $2,109,914 (R-2)
2025 cap number: $3,486,433 (R-5)
2025 cap number: $1,053,930 (R-5)
2025 cap number: $1,647,212 (R-3)
As it turns out, 2025 is a great year for cornerback cap hits. First, a pair of recent extensions really broke my way, allowing me to line up the reigning Defensive Player of the Year (Patrick Surtain II, who inked a new pact with Denver last September) and an NGS favorite (Christian Benford, who landed his deal with the Bills in March after posting an EPA when targeted of -9.7, fifth-best among cornerbacks with 500-plus coverage snaps). Cooper DeJean's versatility and affordability make him, ahem, a slam dunk at slot corner. Rising youngsters Zyon McCollum (who logged two picks and allowed a passer rating of 85.7 while easily pacing Tampa in targets with 101 last year) and Tarheeb Still (who tied for second among rookies last season with four picks) juice the depth chart, and Marcus Jones is just two years removed from earning a first-team All-Pro nod as a punt returner.
SAFETIES (4)
$13,715,183 total (4.9% of cap)
2025 cap number: $5,172,074 (R-1)
2025 cap number: $3,859,455
2025 cap number: $1,271,889 (R-3)
2025 cap number: $3,411,765
How about that: Yet another position group where all-star-caliber talent can be procured with a minimal cap commitment. Chess piece Kyle Hamilton and ballhawk Kerby Joseph (whose 17 career picks are three more than any other NFL player has managed in the three seasons since Joseph entered the NFL) combine for a hit ($9,031,529) that would rank 26th among QBs. Kamren Kinchens was one of five rookies with four-plus picks. Talanoa Hufanga has lost time to injury over the past two seasons but proved his ability to contribute across the board (four picks, two forced fumbles, two sacks) while earning a first-team All-Pro nod in 2022.
SPECIAL TEAMS (3)
$4,797,500 total (1.7% of cap)
2025 cap number: $1,030,000
2025 cap number: $2,437,500
2025 cap number: $1,330,000
No need to overcomplicate things when it comes to the specialists. Let's round out the 53 with a pair of multi-time Pro Bowlers and former first-team All-Pros (Brandon Aubrey and Ross Matiscik) and the punter (Corey Bojorquez) who finished with the third-most kicks inside the 20 (39) in 2024.