A handful of NFL teams are scrambling to get under the newly-reduced salary cap for 2021. The cap was reduced for the first time since 2011 this season after the COVID-19 pandemic caused a reduction in league revenue for the 2020 season, shrinking from $198.2 million to just $182.5 million for 2021.
Some of the highest-paid players in the league were signed to massive long-term deals well before last season before anyone could have predicted the COVID-19 pandemic. While these players are typically not in danger of losing their jobs, these enormous cap hits do affect decisions made on the rest of their team's roster.
Surprisingly, the players who signed the NFL's two biggest contracts over the past year, that being Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, are not even in the top 10 for 2021.
Prescott ranks 18th with a $22.2 million cap hit while Mahomes is all the way down at 206th with just a $7.4 million cap hit, as those deals are strucutred to give their respective teams way more flexibility in 2021. Speaking of which, reigning Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady is 171st in the league with just a $9 million cap hit after restructuring his deal to help the Tampa Bay Buccaneers retain its Super Bowl roster.
Other high-priced players in the league haven't given their teams as much flexibility and could prove to hurt their respective teams rosters with the reduction in cap this year.
Here's a look at the players with the biggest cap hits in 2021: