One of the disturbing trends around the NFL this year is the abominable play of many teams’ offensive lines. Seattle Seahawks defensive lineman Michael Bennett’s own teammate Russell Wilson is getting hammered this year, as are many quarterbacks around the league.
Wilson is tied with Alex Smith of the Kansas City Chiefs with the league’s worst sack totals. Both players have been dragged down 18 times in just four games, and nine passers have been sacked at least 10 times already in 2015.
Speaking on SiriusXM NFL Radio on Thursday, Bennett addressed the situation and gave an interesting reason for why quarterbacks are getting blasted so often.
Michael Bennett: That's the problem with the NFL right now, QB's make too much money there's not enough left for team's to have good O lines
— SiriusXM NFL Radio (@SiriusXMNFL) October 8, 2015
That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is what we call irony.
The NFL is certainly a passing league these days, and the quarterbacks are the stars of the show. That said, with so much money being invested into that position, teams really don’t have as much to spread around, as Bennett correctly points out.
The league’s salary cap is set at $143.28 million this year. There are 18 quarterbacks averaging more than 1/10th of that cap, and nine of them are averaging $20 million or more per year, per Spotrac.com. Not coincidentally, Wilson is one of those nine after he signed his big contract before the season began.
While nobody should hold their breaths waiting for this to happen, perhaps the next big-name quarterback to sign a new deal (Andrew Luck, cough, cough) should take into consideration a minor insurance policy by NOT taking as much so his team can invest in better players up front.
One can dream.