How Much Super Bowl Players Are Paid by Position

For NFL players, the total value of the contract is what matters. To the leaders in teams’ front offices, it’s all about the salary cap.

The league sets the salary cap each season, and for 2022, the number totaled $208.2 million. Roughly, that means the total salaries of all the players on the team can’t exceed that figure. While the amount sounds enormous, it isn’t when you consider that pay has to cover a roster of 50-plus players – including a few with mega contracts.

It takes an expert in the salary cap to figure out just how to juggle the contracts to get them all to fit under the salary cap. Here’s how the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles – the teams playing in Super Bowl LVII – divided up the salary cap by position this year, ranked by average pay per player in terms of salary cap hit. Read on to see all the positions, including the most expensive.

• Number of players looked at: 2
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $947,222
• Average per player: $473,611
• Top-earning punter on Kansas City: Tommy Townsend, $897,500 (0.43% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning punter on Philadelphia: Brett Kern, $49,722 (0.02% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 1
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $1,047,500
• Average per player: $1,047,500
• Top-earning fullback on Kansas City: Michael Burton, $1,047,500 (0.5% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 2
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $2,360,000
• Average per player: $1,180,000
• Top-earning long snapper on Kansas City: James Winchester, $1,275,000 (0.61% of salary cap)
• Top-earning long snapper on Philadelphia: Rick Lovato, $1,085,000 (0.48% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 7
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $8,516,812
• Average per player: $1,216,687
• Top-earning running back on Kansas City: Ronald Jones II, $1,500,000 (0.72% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning running back on Philadelphia: Boston Scott, $1,750,000 (0.78% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 10
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $13,677,968
• Average per player: $1,367,797
• Top-earning linebacker on Kansas City: Nick Bolton, $1,325,916 (0.64% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning linebacker on Philadelphia: Haason Reddick, $3,878,000 (1.73% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 8
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $15,077,949
• Average per player: $1,884,744
• Top-earning safety on Kansas City: Justin Reid, $4,550,000 (2.18% of salary cap)
• Top-earning safety on Philadelphia: Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, $2,540,000 (1.13% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 12
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $23,838,088
• Average per player: $1,986,507
• Top-earning cornerback on Kansas City: Trent McDuffie, $2,544,088 (1.22% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning cornerback on Philadelphia: Darius Slay, $9,731,000 (4.34% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 8
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $18,476,877
• Average per player: $2,309,610
• Top-earning guard on Kansas City: Joe Thuney, $8,151,250 (3.91% of salary cap)
• Top-earning guard on Philadelphia: Isaac Seumalo, $3,976,000 (1.77% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 11
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $28,406,744
• Average per player: $2,582,431
• Top-earning wide receiver on Kansas City: Marquez Valdes-Scantling, $4,880,000 (2.34% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning wide receiver on Philadelphia: A.J. Brown, $5,632,800 (2.51% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 6
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $15,698,711
• Average per player: $2,616,452
• Top-earning tight end on Kansas City: Travis Kelce, $8,444,999 (4.05% of salary cap)
• Top-earning tight end on Philadelphia: Dallas Goedert, $3,721,732 (1.66% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 2
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $5,650,525
• Average per player: $2,825,263
• Top-earning kicker on Kansas City: Harrison Butker, $2,736,525 (1.31% of salary cap)
• Top-earning kicker on Philadelphia: Jake Elliott, $2,914,000 (1.3% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 11
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $35,774,695
• Average per player: $3,252,245
• Top-earning defensive end on Kansas City: Frank Clark, $13,286,111 (6.37% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning defensive end on Philadelphia: Brandon Graham, $9,413,000 (4.19% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 3
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $10,564,915
• Average per player: $3,521,638
• Top-earning center on Kansas City: Creed Humphrey, $1,264,820 (0.61% of salary cap)
• Top-earning center on Philadelphia: Jason Kelce, $8,045,000 (3.59% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 7
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $39,113,363
• Average per player: $5,587,623
• Top-earning tackle on Kansas City: Orlando Brown Jr., $16,662,000 (7.99% of salary cap)
• Top-earning tackle on Philadelphia: Lane Johnson, $11,059,000 (4.93% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 10
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $63,689,071
• Average per player: $6,368,907
• Top-earning defensive tackle on Kansas City: Chris Jones, $29,415,667 (14.1% of salary cap)
• Top-earning defensive tackle on Philadelphia: Javon Hargrave, $17,802,000 (7.93% of salary cap)

• Number of players looked at: 6
• Total 2022 cap hit for position: $43,626,611
• Average per player: $7,271,102
• Top-earning quarterback on Kansas City: Patrick Mahomes, $35,793,381 (17.16% of salary cap) 
• Top-earning quarterback on Philadelphia: Gardner Minshew, $2,540,000 (1.13% of salary cap)

_{Methodology:To find out how much the players in this year’s Super Bowl (LVII) are paid by position, GOBankingRates used Spotrac’s team cap tracker for the 2022 season for both the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. GOBankingRates then combined the two team’s active rosters and sorted by position. For each position GOBankingRates found (1) number of players on both rosters within that position; (2) total cap hit for that position; and (3) the average cap hit for each player at that position. GOBankingRates also found supplementary salary info for each player, also sourced from Spotrac. All data was collected on and up to date as of Jan. 30, 2023.}