The Tampa Bay Buccaneers ranked right in the middle of the pack when it came to spending money on players in 2013. They ranked 16th in the NFL, according to the ESPN The Magazine/Sportingintelligence Global Salary Survey.
The Bucs spent a total of $107.7 million, which came to an average of $2.032 million per player, based on a 53-man roster. The three teams who spent the most were the Minnesota Vikings ($122.7 million), Seattle Seahawks ($122.1) and Chicago Bears ($118.5).
Those figures aren’t the same as salary-cap figures, because they account for actual money spent in 2013 -- including signing bonuses.
That’s why former Tampa Bay cornerback Darrelle Revis didn’t rank among the top-10 highest-paid NFL players in 2013. Although Revis made $16 million last year, other NFL players who received lofty signing bonuses ranked much higher (such as quarterbacks Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, Tom Brady, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan and Tony Romo).
It’s interesting to note how low all NFL teams rank on the overall list among all sports teams around the world. No NFL teams rank in the top 100 on a per-player basis (in part because their rosters are so much larger than basketball, soccer and baseball teams).
But even when it comes to total spending, no NFL teams ranked in the top 20, which was completely made up of major league baseball and international soccer teams. The top three spending teams in all sports last year were the Los Angeles Dodgers ($241.1 million), New York Yankees ($208.8) and Manchester City ($202.7).