Every NFL Team's Most Underpaid Player Following Peak 2025 Free Agency

Few significant deals are left to be signed this NFL offseason, which means we can settle in and judge the moves made so far.

One fun annual judgment is assessing who are the league's most underpaid and overpaid players.

Here's a team-by-team rundown of those who deserve raises.

Salary information courtesy of Spotrac

AFC East

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Buffalo Bills: RB James Cook

For the second year running, in fact. As I noted last offseason regarding Cook, you gotta love productive young running backs on rookie deals. The 25-year-old has put up 2,834 scrimmage yards and 24 touchdowns the last two seasons combined, and his entire four-year entry-level contract will cost the team less than $10 million. 

Miami Dolphins: RB De'Von Achane

Same deal above. The 2023 third-round pick put up 1,499 scrimmage yards and 12 touchdowns as a sophomore and is slated to cost the Dolphins just $1.5 million as a key offensive weapon in 2025. 

New England Patriots: CB Christian Gonzalez

The 2023 first-round pick was a second-team All-Pro at the tender age of 22 in 2024, but under his rookie deal he’s still just the 45th-highest-paid cornerback in the league in terms of average annual value (AAV). 

New York Jets: WR Garrett Wilson 

Entering his fourth season with a $6.5 million salary, the consistently productive 24-year-old has already put up three 1,000-yard seasons and is coming off a seven-touchdown campaign. All of that despite so much volatility within that offense. He’ll almost certainly have his fifth-year option exercised for 2026 and then start to become damn expensive in New York or elsewhere.

AFC North

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Baltimore Ravens: C Tyler Linderbaum

Linderbaum and Kyle Hamilton are both key Ravens who are underpaid as critical first-round picks from 2022. Both are 24 years old and already perennial Pro Bowlers, but we’ll go with Lamar Jackson’s steady center as he makes a little less ($3.3 million per year, versus $4.1 million for Hamilton). 

Cincinnati Bengals: RB Chase Brown

The 2023 fifth-round pick broke out with 1,350 scrimmage yards and 11 touchdowns in 2024 and will be a central part of the offense in 2025. In the process, he’ll cost the Bengals just $1.1 million. 

Cleveland Browns: LB Mohamoud Diabate

It’s not a good sign that you have to dig pretty deep to find a good discount on the Browns roster, but the undrafted 23-year-old Diabate does the trick after putting up 70 tackles and showing signs that he can be a long-term starter in 2024. All for an $807K payday on his three-year, $2.7 million rookie deal. 

Pittsburgh Steelers: WR George Pickens

It’s tough to tell what major offensive changes and the addition of DK Metcalf will do to help or hurt Pickens, but the fact is he’s been a high-impact player and a No. 1 target averaging more than 900 yards per season three years into his career. And he’s done so despite the fact exactly 100 receivers have higher average annual salaries than his $1.7 million total. 

AFC South

Houston Texans: LB Henry To'oTo'o

The 2023 fifth-round pick exploded with 105 tackles in a promising sophomore campaign. He still has some room to grow but will cost the team just $2.3 million over the course of the next two seasons. 

Indianapolis Colts: WR Josh Downs 

This is really a tie between Downs and his fellow receiver Alec Pierce. Both have shown promise under rookie contracts and should be key contributors moving forward, but Downs has become a slightly more central figure in the offense and is under contract for the next two years at $3.0 million total (versus Pierce, who is entering a $3.9 million contract year). 

Jacksonville Jaguars: WR Brian Thomas Jr.

Already a star following a Pro Bowl rookie season, the first-round pick out of LSU made just $2.7 million while going over 1,200 yards and scoring 10 touchdowns in 2024. 

Tennessee Titans: DT T'Vondre Sweat 

The second-round pick flashed quite frequently as a rookie in 2024 and appears to have a bright future. He’s already worth a lot more than his $2.4 million AAV.

AFC West

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Denver Broncos: QB Bo Nix

This one’s simple. Nix is already a steady franchise quarterback and is on track to become a star at the sport’s most critical position. Yet 38 quarterbacks have higher salaries than the 2024 No. 12 overall pick at $4.7 million per season. 

Kansas City Chiefs: CB Trent McDuffie

A first-team All-Pro in 2023 and a second-team All-Pro in 2024, McDuffie has become a star at 24 and will make just $4.5 million in the final year of his rookie deal. After that, you’ll likely never see him on a list like this again. 

Las Vegas Raiders: TE Brock Bowers

Coming off a dominant rookie season in which he was a first-team All-Pro and runner-up for Offensive Rookie of the Year, the 22-year-old Georgia product is only the 29th-highest-paid tight end in football with a $4.5 million average annual salary. 

Los Angeles Chargers: WR Ladd McConkey

The second-round rookie posted 1,149 yards and scored seven times in 2024, and his late-season heroics indicate he’s about to become a star. Not bad considering that his $2.5 million AAV ranks 82nd among receivers. 

NFC East

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Dallas Cowboys: G Tyler Smith

The two-time Pro Bowler has become one of the best interior offensive linemen in the game, but Smith is still playing out his rookie contract with a $4.3 million price tag for 2025. After that, he’ll become expensive one way or another. 

New York Giants: LB Micah McFadden

Malik Nabers is obviously dramatically underpaid based on his magnificent rookie season, but he still makes solid money as a top-10 pick. Instead, we’ll go with a steady starting linebacker coming off back-to-back triple-digit-tackle seasons who is finishing up a rookie contract with an AAV of just $1.0 million a year.

Philadelphia Eagles: LB Nakobe Dean

Another underrated young NFC East linebacker coming off a triple-digit-tackle campaign (128) making relative chump change on a four-year, $5.2 million rookie contract. Let’s just hope a major knee injury suffered in January won’t cost him significant progress (and money) in 2025 or beyond. 

Washington Commanders: QB Jayden Daniels

Duh. The reigning Offensive Rookie of the Year, and one of the dozen or so most impactful players in the sport, is merely the 25th-highest-paid player at his position. 

NFC North

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Chicago Bears: DT Gervon Dexter

Caleb Williams would be an acceptable answer, too, but he wasn’t as convincing as Daniels and Nix in Washington and Denver, respectively. Instead, let’s highlight Dexter, who broke out as a pass-rushing-savvy sophomore starter in Chicago’s blossoming defense and cost the team just $1.5 million. He’ll also come cheap in both 2025 and 2026. 

Detroit Lions: S Kerby Joseph 

The 2022 third-round pick exploded with nine interceptions in a first-team All-Pro 2024 campaign, and he did so at a cost of just $1.4 million. His AAV of $1.3 million ranks 95th among active safety contracts. 

Green Bay Packers: OT Zach Tom

A total of 38 players on the Packers roster make more money than the guy Will Anderson Jr. calls the best offensive lineman he’s ever faced. The 26-year-old has truly become one of the best tackles in the sport, but 117 players at his position beat out his AAV of $1.0 million. That’ll change soon, as he’s entering a contract year.

Minnesota Vikings: Edge Andrew Van Ginkel

A rare veteran with a $10-million-a-year contract on this list, Van Ginkel outperformed his free-agent deal by a massive margin in a second-team All-Pro 2024 campaign. He would have landed a much bigger contract than $20 million over two years had he done that one season earlier in Miami. If he proves it wasn’t a fluke in ‘25, he could double that AAV as a free agent again. 

NFC South

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Atlanta Falcons: WR Drake London

After two promising seasons to launch his career, the 2022 top-10 pick put it all together with 1,271 yards and nine touchdowns in an awesome third year. He'll make $6.9 million in the fourth year of his rookie deal.

Carolina Panthers: OT Ikem Ekwonu

He’s no star and is sort of here by default because Carolina’s roster is so underdeveloped that there aren’t a lot of options. Still, the 2022 first-round pick is just 24 and he’s become a fairly reliable left tackle at a more-than-reasonable rate of just $6.9 million a season.

New Orleans Saints: OT Taliese Fuaga

The young left tackle showed signs of being a long-term pillar at that position as a rookie in 2024, making him a steal with a sub-$4-million salary-cap hit in 2025 and an AAV of $4.3 million through 2027. 

Tampa Bay Buccaneers: RB Bucky Irving

At a cost to the Bucs of just $978K, the rookie fourth-round pick put up 1,514 scrimmage yards and eight touchdowns in 2024. He’s slated to make just $3.8 million over the course of the next three years. 

NFC West

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Arizona Cardinals: TE Trey McBride

The 25-year-old broke out with an 1,146-yard Pro Bowl campaign in 2024, collecting just $1.7 million for his efforts. That number will climb way up to $5.8 million in ‘25, but it’s still a nice discount. He’ll break the bank soon. 

Los Angeles Rams: WR Puka Nacua

Rushing from the inside, Kobie Turner has produced 17 sacks at a cost of just $2.2 million in the first two seasons of his rookie contract with the Rams. But even that isn’t enough when you’re drafted two rounds ahead of a guy who has already become a superstar on a four-year, $4.1 million rookie deal. Incredibly, 214 receivers make more money than Nacua.

San Francisco 49ers: QB Brock Purdy

This could change any moment as Purdy and the 49ers work on a long-term contract, but for now he’s a seventh-round pick with the highest passer rating in NFL history (min. 1,000 attempts), and 94 quarterbacks have higher salaries. 

Seattle Seahawks: WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba

A Pro Bowler with 100 catches and 1,130 yards in 2024, Smith-Njigba’s rise enabled the team to part with two key veterans at his position. The future is bright for a guy who just turned 23, and he’ll cost Seattle less than $5 million in each of the next two seasons.