Most overpaid players in the NFL per Fox

It's not difficult to identify the most overpaid players in the NFL. They are the veterans under the gun, as you read this, to either re-do their contract or face termination.

The NFL is cold like that. There is a salary cap, at least for another year, and every team struggles to fit all of its veterans under that cap.
Because of injuries, declining performance or just their sheer size of their salary, some players become an enormous waste of (cap) space.

That is why the Denver Broncos just cut starting defensive end Trevor Pryce. He would have counted $10.2 million against the salary cap, or nearly one-ninth the total for the entire team.

His departure clears $8.5 million in cap space. The office calculator was adamant ? his Pryce was much, much too high.

Here are the most glaring examples of players currently wasting space:

1. Chad Pennington, QB, Jets: He has collected $22 million from this franchise and started just 16 games. He is due a $3 million roster bonus Friday and is scheduled to earn $9 million in 2006. His cap number for 2006 is a staggering $15 million.

That's pretty rich, given his history of shoulder injuries. Pennington has been in for repairs twice, which gives him a very uncertain future, and he never had much of a fastball to begin with.

The Jets are coming off a dismal 4-12 season that led to the purging of general manager Terry Bradway and the exit of coach Herman Edwards and offensive coordinator Mike Heimerdinger.

The new regime may keep Pennington, but only with a restructured contract full of incentive bonuses. "I believe there's a middle ground here that we can both agree upon and come to a conclusion where things can work out for both sides," Pennington told the New York media in a conference call.

Yeah, well, he better aim low.

2. Brett Favre, QB, Packers: Will he retire? Or does he want to play another year? The Packers need to know because he is due to collect a $3 million roster bonus next week.

His cap number for 2006 would be (gulp) $12.6 million. The front office needs to know his plans so it can begin structuring the payroll. But Favre seems no closer to making up his mind.


If Brett Favre returns next season, it will likely be for substantially less money than he's used to. (Jonathan Daniel / Getty Images)

He is still recovering from his gruesome 29-interception season. He is 36 years old. The Packers finished 4-12. They hold the fifth overall pick in the NFL draft and they need to rebuild. Aaron Rodgers was drafted to replace him.

If he wasn't an icon, the team would make his decision for him. But the Packers couldn't do that to Brett Favre, right?

3. Kerry Collins, QB, Raiders: Perhaps he can still prosper in Oakland, once the new regime gets the offense organized to its liking. But Kerry's massive cap number ? nearly $13 million for next season ? makes his presence problematic.

Collins is due to collect a $2.5 million roster bonus, then $6 million in salary and another $4.25 in the beloved "likely to be earned incentives."

The team could save more than $9 million in cap room by releasing him ... although that creates the small challenge of replacing him. What would Plan B look like?

A better option would be redoing the contract, which would have to happen by March 7.

4. Eric Moulds, WR, Bills: If he doesn't re-do his contract, he must go. The dude was set to count nearly $11 million against the salary cap. His departure would free up roughly one-half that total in cap room.

Moulds and his agent rebuffed the Bills' attempt to re-do the contract, but wouldn't rule out further discussions. "We're way off," agent Harry Henderson told the Associated Press. "Our attitude has been optimistic, but realistically it may not happen."

Moulds is coming off a reasonably productive season (81 catches, 816 yards), but he did serve a one-game team suspension for insubordination. And it's not as if the Bills' passing game was dynamic with him lining up wide.

5. Aaron Brooks, QB, Saints: Last season did not end well for Brooks. There is no sense that the team wants him, or that he wants to stay.

Since he would count $8.4 million against the cap, Brooks will be an easy player to cut. New Orleans would gain $4.5 million in cap space by making that move.

6. LaVar Arrington, LB, Redskins: Washington has massive salary cap issues, given the ludicrous contracts Danny Snyder has lavished on his troops. Arrington drove Joe Gibbs and Co. crazy last season, so the staff hates to see that $12.6 salary cap figure for LaVar this season.

It boggles the mind to ponder what Snyder might do if the last-ditch labor talks fail, thus eliminating the salary cap for the 2007 season. Snyder operating without constraints? Wow!

7. Terrell Owens, WR, Eagles: The franchise made him suffer at the end of last season by refusing to release or play him. But now T.O. must go, because that contract he detests so much creates a $6.7 million cap number for 2006.


Terrell Owens could soon be free of the contract he found so burdensome. (Brian Bahr / Getty Images)

The franchise would reclaim most of that as cap space for this season by giving him the short haircut. Then Owens would be free to demand even more money from his next employer. And yes, somebody else will pay him.

8. Brad Hopkins, T, Titans: The team loves the guy, although 13 years in the trenches have taken a toll. He came with the franchise from Houston, for goodness sakes. But his contract has been reworked so many times that he has impossible contract numbers for 2006.

The Titans would owe him a $5 million roster bonus and $4.25 million in salary. His "cap number" is nearly $11 million, due to the pro-rating of bonus money over the course of the contract. The team will have no choice but to whack him and realize about $4.6 million in cap savings.

9. Derrick Brooks, LB, Buccaneers: It is difficult to allow one player to eat up about 14 percent of a team's salary cap, but that's what Brooks would do in Tampa Bay this season. His cap figure is nearly $12 million and the team could get about half of that back by letting him go.

10. Simeon Rice, DE, Buccaneers: He eats about another 10 percent of the cap space, all by himself. The Buccaneers are really pulling for an extension of the collective bargaining agreement, since that could push the team cap figure up another $8 million to $10 million for next season.

11. Tebucky Jones, S, Dolphins: He has never lived up to his potential. Miami can save nearly all of his $6.8 million cap figure by letting him go, so Nick Saban will cut the cord.

12. Eric Warfield, CB, Chiefs: He hasn't played well at all since coming to the Chiefs. New coach Herman Edwards hasn't been in contact with him, so Warfield knows the score.

His cap figure for next year is $4.2 million and the team can clear half that total by letting him go.

"I'd like to stay, but I really have no sense of what's going to happen," Warfield told the Kansas City Star. "All I know is that there's a lot of concern for the defense. I don't know where I fit into that. I think I held my own last year, but I know it wasn't my best year. I could have done a lot better

 

Yep it is kinda crazy Favre waiting till after the draft to make a decision.If I was the owner of the PACS that changes my draft and FA thoughts. If Favre plays of course they may want to try fielding a team with more veterans and trying for one last push for the playoffs. If not Rodgers steps in and they start clearing out the dead weight like the Jets. I don't know what his deal is I respect the guy but I think his decision puts the Front Office in a bind..