As the National Football League Draft is nearing, we’re going to see more players getting paid too much for their performances.

For years, teams have progressively been giving more and more money to players who might not even play. The Cowboys recently released their star receiver Dez Bryant because they reached their cap salary. Bryant, in my opinion, was getting paid way too much for what he performed last year. I would watch a Cowboys game occasionally this past season and Bryant would have some receptions but at other times, he wouldn’t even be close. His best years were from 2012 to 2014, when he got 41 touchdowns, 3,935 receiving yards and $8.7 million. That number might seem like a lot of money, but when you see his past season, it’s very disappointing. In 2017, Bryant got only six touchdowns, 838 receiving yards and nearly $17 million. The Cowboys shouldn’t have put in 10 percent of their salary cap for that terrible outcome that in actuality would be worth around $1.5 million.

The players who get paid the most in the NFL are those who are consistently doing good or ones who were good. There are lots of other players other that Bryant who have been good and get paid tons of money the next year but aren’t as good the next year. Every team has backup players that practice with the team, but a lot of them don’t even get to play, and still get paid more than some underrated rookies.

One of the most overpaid players and highest-paid backup quarterbacks is Jimmy Garoppolo. For five years playing as a backup quarterback Garoppolo has earned $137.5 million. However, he’s only started an NFL game seven times and has only had 12 passing touchdowns in his career. His stats aren’t that good, and he’s getting paid more than elite quarterbacks and running backs, who should be getting paid the most. If he continues to play for the 49ers until the year 2022, he’ll make nearly $98 million guaranteed including what he already made playing backup quarterback with the Patriots. Garoppolo needs to be starting games and playing amazingly with how much he’s making but at this pace, he’ll retire a millionaire who didn’t do a lot.  

You could be the worst starting player in the NFL and still make more than people than people who have been to college to have a high-paying job and I find that unfair. A doctor’s salary is around $150,000 according to time.com and a starting football player can make around a million. The NFL needs to stop paying useless players millions of dollars for doing nothing.