NFL Exec Calls Teams' Investment in Large WR Contracts 'Completely out of Whack'

One executive from an NFC team questioned the ballooning salaries for wide receivers around the league, calling it "completely out of whack."

"I think the reason why teams [spend big] is because you draft and develop a player who becomes great, and he's got chemistry with his quarterback," the exec said to ESPN's Ben Baby. "But you can find a lot of good receivers every year in the draft."

Baby pointed out the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills in 2020 are the only two examples of teams reaching the conference championship while being a top-five spender on the receiver position.

The same arguments have been made to some degree about quarterback salaries.

It's easier to contend for the playoffs and even a Super Bowl title with a quarterback on a rookie contract because there's simply more money to spread around the rest of the roster. Once you start paying your QB upwards of $50 million or even $60 million annually, the margin for error roster-wise becomes much smaller.

Still, the value of the quarterback position and scarcity of starting-caliber options available in a given offseason means teams will keep inflating the market.

Wide receivers don't impact games to the same kind of degree, thus raising the question of whether these massive contracts are a wise investment.

The Las Vegas Raiders and Miami Dolphins made sizable bets when they acquired Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill respectively and handed them extensions that dramatically altered the receiver market. The Raiders posted a losing record in each of Adams' first two years there, while the Dolphins suffered back-to-back AFC Wild Card Round exits with Hill.

Unlike with quarterbacks, replacing an elite pass-catcher with a younger, cheaper alternative in one offseason isn't so difficult as to almost be impossible, either. The Minnesota Vikings wrote the blueprint when they used a first-round pick on Justin Jefferson after trading Stefon Diggs to the Bills in 2020.

Four wideouts from the 2023 draft class had 1,000-yard receiving seasons. Two rookies, the Jacksonville Jaguars' Brian Thomas Jr. and New York Giants' Malik Nabers, are among the top 10 in yards so far this year, and Nabers' 35 receptions lead the league.

The 2025 class includes some receivers who could make an immediate impact next season as well. Arizona's Tetairoa McMillan Missouri's Luther Burden III and Ohio State's Emeka Egbuka all rank in the top 15 on Bleacher Report's initial big board. Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter, who splits his time between receiver and cornerback, sits atop the board.

Much like how NFL teams have shifted their views on how much they're willing to pay running backs, it's easy to see a future in which receiver salaries begin to taper off a bit because general managers became more pragmatic.