Maybe Time For Something Different

I was wishing there would be something to read about besides the two You-Know-What stories.  And then I thought - wow - like maybe I could start a different line of thought.  I just hope it doesn't become an "omg what a total ditz she is".

I keep hearing people talking about how we should buy this guy or pick up a Nose Tackle or stuff like that.  And I thought, well, what if it was like going to Albertson's to buy groceries.  So, I started looking at statistics about salaries and positions.  I'm not sure any of this means anything, but some of this stuff was kind of interesting to me.  Because, I guess I would want to know more about the products, and whether I was getting value for my money, which sure doesn't seem to be as much of, or go as far.

I decided I needed to go some place to get the data.  On a USA Today site I found a listing of salaries for all of the players in the NFL.  It seemed pretty current, since it showed lots of guys on our roster who were pretty knew, llike Eddy Royal.  And I was able to get more information on draft positions and stuff on ESPN.  The first thing I decided I would like to know was, if I took all of the players at each position, and divided by 32, and then rounded, what was the average number of positions at each position.  It seems pretty close to what I think the Broncos do:

    CB (6);  DE (5);  DT (4);  K/P (2);  LB (8);  OL (11);  QB (3);  RB (5);  S (4);  TE (3);  WR (7)

I was curious about what the average salary was for each position, since I could get an idea of if I was over or underpaying a member of the team:

    CB (2.1M);  DE (2.4M);  DT (1.9M);  K/P (1.2M);  LB (1.6M);  OL (2.0M);  QB (3.5M);  RB (1.7M);  S (1.5M);  TE (1.5M);  WR (2.1M).

And then I wondered how much the average top-ten were paid at each position, because I really wanted to know if I was going to be overpaying (I don't know if this captures the salaries with the start of this free agency and some of the numbers seem to keep coming up wrong, but I can't make them different):

    CB (9.8M); DE (11.8M);  DT (8.9M);  K/P (2.8M);  LB (7.1M);  OL (11.5M);  QB (13M);  RB (9.1M);  S (6.2M);  TE (5.8M);  WR (11.7M)

These numbers were a lot larger than the average numbers, and I was also curious about what the average round was for the top ten salaries at each position, so I looked them up.  I really should have sorted the 2008 drafties out of the list, and maybe some other time I might do that:

    CB (2.1);  DE (2);  DT (3.4);  K/P (6.2);  LB (1.8);  OL (2.3);  QB (2.8);  RB (2.2);  S (3);  TE (3.2);  WR (1.6)

As a final look, I was curious as to what the going rate was, by position, in the first round of the 2008 Draft:

    CB (4.2M);  DE (4.7M);  DT (4.7M);  K/P (na);  LB (3.4M);  OL (3.9M);  QB (4.0M);  RB (3.3M);  S (3.4M);  TE (3.8M);  WR (9M)

If you got this far, and your eyes aren't glazed over, you are probably saying, so what?  So, here is what I thought I learned from all of this:

    (1)  For average salaries, Quarterbacks were a lot more expensive than any other position, and Kicker / Punters were the least expensive, and it seemed like a pretty smooth line from DE - WR/CB - OL - DT - RB - LB - TE - S.

    (2)  For top-ten salaries, Quarterbacks were at the top and Kicker / Punters were at the bottom.  DE / WR / OL were in a group, CB / RB / DT were in another grouping, and LB / S / TE were in a last group

    (3)  If the top-ten salaries are a basis for deciding worth (and that is decided by how much people are willing to pay), and looking at the round they were drafted in, we better draft for WR / LB in the first round, DE / CB / RB / OL / QB in the second round, and S / TE / DT in the third round.  P / K don't seem to matter

    (4)  So, if #2 is true, then, for starters, we better keep QBs, WR, OL players because they are way expensive.  And we better be ready to pay lots of money for DE's.

    (5)  And, I kind of got the cutting of Dre, since he was a top 10 CB (for pay), and I think Jackson was a top 10 TE (for pay).