2026 Positional Spending Rankings: Safeties

2026 Positional Spending Rankings: Safeties
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To help pass the time from now until the start of training camp, we’ll be looking at where every team ranks in positional spending. Next we have safeties. The league’s top safeties have done a better job of cashing in than several years ago when there was a tough ceiling on top of the market, and a solid middle class has also developed. However, this is still one of the positions teams turn to first when they need to cut costs and that’s reflected below.

One note: rather than count dead money toward the positional groups, we will have it ranked separately in a post of its own. For example, Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa‘s $55.4 million dead cap hit won’t count toward Miami’s quarterback spending, but it will be included in their league-leading $179 million dead cap figure.

Here’s how the league’s safety rooms shake out from most expensive to least expensive:

Resources:

1 – Los Angeles Chargers: $40,199,652

  • Percentage of total cap: 13.35 percent
  • 2025 rank: 1st
  • Top cap hit: Derwin James, $24,606,495 (8.17 percent)
  • Other notable cap hit: Elijah Molden, $7,916,666 (2.63 percent)
  • PFF grade: 65.7 (15th)
  • Starters: James*, Molden
  • Depth: Tony Jefferson, Genesis Smith, RJ Mickens
  • *safety/nickel

2 – Tampa Bay Buccaneers: $35,803,099

3 – Atlanta Falcons: $32,166,905

  • Percentage of total cap: 10.68 percent
  • 2025 rank: 4th
  • Top cap hit: Jessie Bates III, $24,770,000 (8.22 percent)
  • PFF grade: 68.5 (12th)
  • Starters: Bates, Xavier Watts
  • Depth: Sydney Brown, Demarcco Hellams

4 – Denver Broncos: $28,316,665

5 – New York Giants: $28,101,092

6 – Dallas Cowboys: $27,269,096

7 – Arizona Cardinals: $27,195,767

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