Are NFL Payrolls Inversely Proportional to On-Field Success?

Not exactly, but a brief look at the payrolls of the 32 NFL teams reveals some surprising numbers. Two of the lowest salaried teams, the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots (29th and 30th, respectively), have, as we all know, been two of the most successful franchises in recent years; the team with the highest payroll, the abysmal Oakland Raiders, one of the absolute worst. Only slightly better on the playing field is the fourth-highest salaried team, the Cleveland Brown.

Despite these surprising stats, NFL payrolls are by no means inversely proportional to on-field success. The woeful Kansas City Chiefs have the lowest combined payroll of any NFL team; the excellent Pittsburgh Steeler squad is #6. In fact, there seems to be a relatively even distribution of salaries across the NFL success vector.

Compare those numbers to the success of Major League Baseball’s highest paid teams. Although spending a lot never guarantees having a championship-caliber team in any sport–the ultra-expensive New York Yankees didn’t make the playoffs while the dirt-cheap Tampa Bay Rays won the American League pennant–overall the higher-salaried baseball teams tend to have better won-loss records than their lower-paying counterparts (five of the eight highest-paid teams were in the playoffs this year). But in the NFL, no such payroll to on-field success comparison can be made.

So, what then do these numbers mean?  Only that strong management trumps high payrolls in reaching the Super Bowl every time… and that really strong management can even bring home the Lombardi Trophy on a budget.

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