With the Pro Bowl rosters now finalized I’ll do our annual financial assessment of the rosters. While the Pro Bowl is certainly not the best measure of who are the best players in the NFL it can at least help us look at some trends among those who receive votes.
The average annual salary of players selected to the Pro Bowl is $7.764 million. The highest salaried player to make the team was Aaron Rodgers at $22 million. The highest salaried non-quarterback selected was Von Miller at just under $19.1 million. The lowest cost player is Kyle Juszczyk of the Ravens who earns just over $615,000 a year. The lowest cost veteran was linebacker Lorenzo Alexander of the Bills at $885,000. Alexander came out of nowhere to have a stellar season. He and fullback Mike Tolbert are the only veteran position players to be under $4 million a year.
Only seven unrestricted free agents made the Pro Bowl this year. That list was Janoris Jenkins, Kelechi Osemele, Alex Mack, Donald Penn, Casey Heyward, Reggie Nelson, and Tolbert (Tolbert re-signed on the eve of free agency). Alexander is the only player who would qualify as a “street free agent” to make the list. Three players who were designated franchise players, Von Miller, Eric Berry and Justin Tucker, made the Pro Bowl while Cameron Wake and DeMarco Murray were the two players who made it who modified existing contracts to ensure their spots on a roster.
A number of players who signed extensions this year made the team. Tom Brady, Fletcher Cox, Larry Fitzgerald, Harrison Smith, David DeCastro, Travis Frederick, Travis Kelce, Jordan Reed, Delanie Walker, and Matt Slater all signed new deals prior to the expiration of their contracts and those decision look to have paid off for their teams.
In general players who signed extensions or while under the franchise tag earned the highest average salaries right around $11.4 million per player. This was far higher than the UFA grouping who earned under $8 million a year. Rookie contracts averaged just under $2.5M a year making them the best bargains of all.
The players who signed extensions made up the largest percentage of Pro Bowlers at 41.9%. Draft picks were next at 29.1% followed by players who signed contracts after their last contract expired at 20.9%. Nearly 76% of all Pro Bowlers are playing for the team that originally drafted them or signed them as a free agent. I’d think these numbers probably reinforce the point that free agency is a much bigger unknown than players who you know fit in the system. 88% of players who made the Pro Bowl were draft picks and the other 12% went undrafted.
Here are a few summary stats of the Pro Bowl Roster, grouped by contract status.
| Contract Type | No. Selected | Average of Age | Average of APY | On Original Team | Drafted |
| Extension | 36 | 28.8 | $11,415,336 | 32 | 33 |
| Drafted | 25 | 24.0 | $2,584,496 | 25 | 25 |
| Unrestricted | 18 | 30.1 | $7,651,713 | 4 | 14 |
| Franchise | 3 | 27.3 | $11,363,111 | 3 | 2 |
| Other | 3 | 31.7 | $6,479,167 | 1 | 2 |
| Street | 1 | 33.0 | $885,000 | 0 | 0 |
From a positional standpoint the largest salaries went to quarterbacks, interior defensive linemen, tackles, centers, and wide receivers which would probably indicate that draft picks haven’t broken through to the Pro Bowl at those positions. In general the only position that does not show a majority of veteran selections is running back which is dominated by rookie contracts.
Here are the numbers per position
| Position | No. Selected | No. Veterans | Age | Avg. salary |
| Quarterback | 6 | 4 | 30.8 | $14,520,633 |
| Interior Lineman | 6 | 4 | 27.2 | $11,993,671 |
| Tackle | 6 | 5 | 29.7 | $9,216,042 |
| Wide Receiver | 8 | 5 | 26.5 | $9,195,887 |
| Center | 4 | 4 | 27.5 | $9,031,831 |
| Cornerback | 8 | 6 | 26.9 | $8,494,708 |
| Tight End | 4 | 4 | 29.0 | $8,226,475 |
| Outside Linebacker | 6 | 5 | 29.2 | $8,140,357 |
| Guard | 6 | 4 | 27.5 | $7,070,879 |
| Inside/Middle Linebacker | 4 | 2 | 25.3 | $6,809,265 |
| Defensive End | 6 | 4 | 28.7 | $6,675,000 |
| Free Safety | 4 | 3 | 28.3 | $6,521,156 |
| Strong Safety | 2 | 1 | 25.0 | $6,168,070 |
| Running Back | 6 | 2 | 25.0 | $3,846,427 |
| Placekicker | 2 | 2 | 34.0 | $3,516,667 |
| Punter | 2 | 2 | 27.5 | $2,831,503 |
| Special Teamer | 2 | 1 | 30.0 | $2,650,000 |
| Return Specialist | 2 | 0 | 23.5 | $1,225,909 |
| Fullback | 2 | 1 | 28.0 | $1,132,573 |
Finally, here are the financial numbers for the players in the Pro Bowl
| Name | Position | Team | Age | APY |
| Aaron Rodgers | Quarterback | Packers | 33 | $22,000,000 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | Quarterback | Steelers | 34 | $21,850,000 |
| Matt Ryan | Quarterback | Falcons | 31 | $20,750,000 |
| Tom Brady | Quarterback | Patriots | 39 | $20,500,000 |
| Von Miller | Outside Linebacker | Broncos | 27 | $19,083,333 |
| Ndamukong Suh | Interior Lineman | Dolphins | 29 | $19,062,500 |
| Fletcher Cox | Interior Lineman | Eagles | 26 | $17,100,000 |
| AJ Green | Wide Receiver | Bengals | 28 | $15,000,000 |
| Julio Jones | Wide Receiver | Falcons | 27 | $14,250,000 |
| Patrick Peterson | Cornerback | Cardinals | 26 | $14,010,000 |
| Richard Sherman | Cornerback | Seahawks | 28 | $14,000,000 |
| Gerald McCoy | Interior Lineman | Buccaneers | 28 | $13,600,000 |
| Trent Williams | Tackle | Redskins | 28 | $13,200,000 |
| TY Hilton | Wide Receiver | Colts | 27 | $13,000,000 |
| Janoris Jenkins | Cornerback | Giants | 28 | $12,500,000 |
| Luke Kuechly | Inside/Middle Linebacker | Panthers | 25 | $12,359,059 |
| Tyron Smith | Tackle | Cowboys | 26 | $12,200,000 |
| Kelechi Osemele | Guard | Raiders | 27 | $11,700,000 |
| Joe Thomas | Tackle | Browns | 32 | $11,500,000 |
| Ryan Kerrigan | Outside Linebacker | Redskins | 28 | $11,500,000 |
| Larry Fitzgerald | Wide Receiver | Cardinals | 33 | $11,000,000 |
| Eric Berry | Strong Safety | Chiefs | 28 | $10,806,000 |
| Bobby Wagner | Inside/Middle Linebacker | Seahawks | 26 | $10,750,000 |
| Geno Atkins | Interior Lineman | Bengals | 28 | $10,665,400 |
| Harrison Smith | Free Safety | Vikings | 27 | $10,250,000 |
| David DeCastro | Guard | Steelers | 26 | $10,000,000 |
| Jason Peters | Tackle | Eagles | 34 | $9,575,000 |
| Aqib Talib | Cornerback | Broncos | 30 | $9,500,000 |
| Devin McCourty | Free Safety | Patriots | 29 | $9,500,000 |
| Travis Frederick | Center | Cowboys | 25 | $9,400,000 |
| Travis Kelce | Tight End | Chiefs | 27 | $9,368,400 |
| Jordan Reed | Tight End | Redskins | 26 | $9,350,000 |
| Alex Mack | Center | Falcons | 31 | $9,000,000 |
| Jurrell Casey | Interior Lineman | Titans | 27 | $9,000,000 |
| Rodney Hudson | Center | Raiders | 27 | $8,900,000 |
| Maurkice Pouncey | Center | Steelers | 27 | $8,827,325 |
| Chris Harris, Jr. | Cornerback | Broncos | 27 | $8,500,000 |
| Everson Griffen | Defensive End | Vikings | 29 | $8,500,000 |
| Antonio Brown | Wide Receiver | Steelers | 28 | $8,392,000 |
| LeSean McCoy | Running Back | Bills | 28 | $8,010,000 |
| Marshal Yanda | Guard | Ravens | 32 | $7,979,412 |
| Brian Orakpo | Outside Linebacker | Titans | 30 | $7,750,000 |
| Greg Olsen | Tight End | Panthers | 31 | $7,500,000 |
| Cliff Avril | Defensive End | Seahawks | 30 | $7,125,000 |
| Michael Bennett | Defensive End | Seahawks | 31 | $7,125,000 |
| Cameron Wake | Defensive End | Dolphins | 34 | $7,062,500 |
| Delanie Walker | Tight End | Titans | 32 | $6,687,500 |
| DeMarco Murray | Running Back | Titans | 28 | $6,375,000 |
| Ezekiel Elliott | Running Back | Cowboys | 21 | $6,239,085 |
| Thomas Davis | Outside Linebacker | Panthers | 33 | $6,000,000 |
| Donald Penn | Tackle | Raiders | 33 | $5,950,000 |
| Amari Cooper | Wide Receiver | Raiders | 22 | $5,665,780 |
| Jadeveon Clowney | Defensive End | Texans | 23 | $5,568,250 |
| Brandon Scherff | Guard | Redskins | 25 | $5,303,910 |
| TJ Lang | Guard | Packers | 29 | $5,200,000 |
| Casey Hayward | Cornerback | Chargers | 27 | $5,100,000 |
| Khalil Mack | Defensive End | Raiders | 25 | $4,669,251 |
| Reggie Nelson | Free Safety | Raiders | 33 | $4,250,000 |
| Justin Tucker | Placekicker | Ravens | 27 | $4,200,000 |
| Mike Evans | Wide Receiver | Buccaneers | 23 | $3,657,763 |
| Vic Beasley | Outside Linebacker | Falcons | 24 | $3,623,807 |
| Dwayne Harris | Special Teamer | Giants | 29 | $3,500,000 |
| Pat McAfee | Punter | Colts | 29 | $2,900,000 |
| Taylor Lewan | Tackle | Titans | 25 | $2,871,251 |
| Matt Bryant | Placekicker | Falcons | 41 | $2,833,333 |
| Johnny Hekker | Punter | Rams | 26 | $2,763,005 |
| Odell Beckham, Jr. | Wide Receiver | Giants | 24 | $2,601,550 |
| Aaron Donald | Interior Lineman | Rams | 25 | $2,534,125 |
| Marcus Peters | Cornerback | Chiefs | 23 | $2,396,040 |
| Zack Martin | Guard | Cowboys | 26 | $2,241,950 |
| C.J. Mosley | Inside/Middle Linebacker | Ravens | 24 | $2,197,001 |
| Ha Ha Clinton-Dix | Free Safety | Packers | 24 | $2,084,625 |
| Xavier Rhodes | Cornerback | Vikings | 26 | $1,951,626 |
| Donta Hightower | Inside/Middle Linebacker | Patriots | 26 | $1,931,001 |
| Cordarrelle Patterson | Return Specialist | Vikings | 25 | $1,805,262 |
| Matt Slater | Special Teamer | Patriots | 31 | $1,800,000 |
| Mike Tolbert | Fullback | Panthers | 31 | $1,650,000 |
| Landon Collins | Strong Safety | Giants | 22 | $1,530,140 |
| Derek Carr | Quarterback | Raiders | 25 | $1,342,951 |
| Le’Veon Bell | Running Back | Steelers | 24 | $1,030,150 |
| Lorenzo Alexander | Outside Linebacker | Bills | 33 | $885,000 |
| David Johnson | Running Back | Cardinals | 25 | $748,218 |
| Dak Prescott | Quarterback | Cowboys | 23 | $680,848 |
| Devonta Freeman | Running Back | Falcons | 24 | $676,106 |
| Tyreek Hill | Return Specialist | Chiefs | 22 | $646,555 |
| Kyle Juszczyk | Fullback | Ravens | 25 | $615,146 |
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