Building a championship NFL team takes work. It also takes money. In the salary cap era, Super Bowl contenders must be financially sound, properly allocating resources — and sometimes getting creative with money management — to build, grow and sustain worthwhile talent.
Which raises the question: Is it possible to prioritize affordable players and still assemble a title-caliber lineup? We attempted to answer that very question by constructing an All-Bargain Team from Pete Prisco’s 2025 ranking of the NFL’s top 100 players. Here’s how we did it:
- Twenty-two (22) different players were selected: 11 offensive starters and 11 defensive starters.
- Only players on Pete Prisco’s Top 100 list were eligible for selection.
- Players had to fit under an imaginary $139.6 million salary cap. This number was chosen because it is half the actual 2025 salary cap, reflecting the All-Bargain Team’s reduced roster size.
- Players’ individual 2025 salary cap hits were used to calculate their “cost.”
Without further ado, our 2025 All-Bargain Team, which was carefully built to contend (and still had $1.4 million in cap space to spare):
Daniels is the “elite quarterback on a rookie deal” fantasy brought to life. The Commanders‘ dynamic dual threat wasn’t just efficient and explosive as a rookie quarterback; he was also unmoved by the moment, nearly dragging Washington all the way to the Super Bowl. Could he take a step back in Year 2? Sure. If he’s healthy, though, we have no reason to believe he will. Regardless, he’s a financial steal.
We don’t talk enough about the impact Gibbs had on the Lions‘ all-star offense in 2024. In just his second NFL season, the former first-round pick approached 2,000 scrimmage yards and scored 20 total touchdowns, even while initially splitting touches with David Montgomery. He’s lightning in a bottle. He’s also a prime candidate to join the likes of Saquon Barkley as a top-paid ball-carrier in the coming years.
Jefferson accounts for the largest 2025 cap hit on our All-Bargain Team’s payroll, but the truth is he’s a steal at any price. Five years in, he’s already well clear of 7,000 receiving yards for his career. And he just makes it all look so easy; there isn’t another wideout who makes splash plays more routine. The Vikings compensate him well, but the rest of the NFL would love to have him as a quarterback’s best friend.
The Jaguars were mostly a trainwreck in 2024, but Thomas transcended the offense as a first-year starter, eclipsing 1,200 yards and reeling in 10 touchdowns as the sole reliable weapon in their pass game. His numbers may dip with the arrival of Travis Hunter, but they may also improve, given defenses will need to account for both field-stretchers. Either way, he’s due to keep outperforming his rookie contract.
Nacua was a Day 3 flyer by the Rams in the 2023 draft, arriving in the fifth round. Accordingly, his rookie deal is ridiculously affordable considering the workload he’s earned in Los Angeles. Injuries limited the rugged BYU product to 11 games in Year 2, but he’s been an absolute target machine for Matthew Stafford when on the field, racking up 184 catches and nearly 2,500 yards in his first two NFL seasons.
The tight end market isn’t the most robust, so even as a top-15 pick in 2024, Bowers isn’t hauling in a lucrative sum. He was, however, a bona fide star for the Raiders out of the gate, easily emerging as Las Vegas’ most trustworthy pass outlet with a rookie-record 112 catches. That volume may not be sustainable if the silver and black go run-heavy under Pete Carroll, but who cares? He looks like an elite No. 1.
This is where we had to get a little picky, because there aren’t a ton of above-average left tackles who haven’t been rewarded with high-end contracts. Wirfs, however, is certainly under-market for 2025, fresh off his first All-Pro nod at the position. Still just 26, he’s now given Pro Bowl-level protection to both Tom Brady and Baker Mayfield in Tampa, successfully transitioning from the right side a few years back.
The Cowboys have a strong history of unearthing reliable interior blockers, and Smith is part of that trend after converting from left tackle following a solid 2022 debut. Now entrenched as Dallas’ left guard, the former Tulsa standout is due a major pay raise in 2026, when a fifth-year option would pay him north of $20 million. Until then, he registers as a pleasantly affordable option in the heart of the trenches.
The Ravens recently declined Linderbaum’s fifth-year option, which would’ve made him one of the game’s highest-paid centers come 2026. That’s not necessarily an indictment of his value in Baltimore. He’s arguably gotten better with each NFL season, missing just two games in three years, and his road-grading at the core of the Ravens’ front helped pave the way for Derrick Henry’s 2024 rushing showcase.
After two years as a solid, if unspectacular, starter on the Broncos‘ interior, Meinerz began soaring to new heights under Sean Payton. A converted center who now makes a living as Denver’s top right guard, he’ll technically skyrocket toward the top of the interior market starting in 2026, when his $72 million extension kicks in. For this season, though, he’s a bargain as one of Bo Nix’s toughest bodyguards.
The Lions rewarded the big man with a huge payday prior to 2024, making the former top-10 pick one of the NFL’s highest-paid blockers, but his 2025 charge ranks outside the top 10 at right tackle. That’s almost unbelievable considering what Sewell brings up front. A massive two-time All-Pro who’s missed just a single game in four seasons, his road-grading has been a catalyst for Detroit’s recent offensive fireworks.
Prisco’s NFL Top 100 players of 2025: Saquon Barkley cracks top 5, five other RBs make top 50; 4 QBs in top 10
Pete Prisco
A serious leg injury robbed Hutchinson of all but five games in 2024, but in a pass rush market where elite sack artists command more than $30 million per year, the well-rounded Michigan product projects as supreme value. That’s because he was on a tear prior to his injury (7.5 sacks in five games) and enters 2025 with almost twice as many quarterback hits (69) as games played (39). His motor is relentless.
Wanna know why the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles were so willing to shed salary following their championship rout of the Kansas City Chiefs? One reason is they anticipate paying mega bucks to this young man. Though sometimes streaky, Carter has been a game-wrecking force in some critical spots, racking up 12 tackles for loss in 2024 as a violent tone-setter for Vic Fangio’s title-winning front.
At 31, Williams isn’t necessarily the force he once was, but he quietly approached a career high in sacks with 11 quarterback takedowns under Mike Macdonald in 2024. At a position where even B-level starters tend to command expensive deals, you could do a whole lot worse at his price point. The two-time Pro Bowler also offers versatility, successfully lining up inside and outside on the defensive front.
The Florida State product’s 2024 sack total wasn’t gaudy (4.5), but his presence was always felt on the Rams’ youthful front, hence his NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. That already makes him a steal on a rookie deal, and odds are, with another offseason in the books, suiting up next to fellow youngsters Braden Fiske, Byron Young and Kobie Turner, Verse will easily increase his own sack total in Year 2.
Baun will be handsomely paid for his 2024 breakout thanks to a $51 million extension signed this offseason, but that deal is team-friendly at the start, allowing Philadelphia to deploy its top linebacker at a below-market price. Yes, he’s got a small sample size of elite production, but the ex-New Orleans Saints reserve was so rangy and physical under Vic Fangio that it’s hard not to bet on his continued success.
Like a fine wine, Wagner just can’t stop aging gracefully. He’ll be 35 at the start of 2025, which means the Commanders can only count on him for so long. Or can they? The longtime Seattle Seahawks star has missed just three games over the last decade, and while he may not possess the top-end athleticism of today’s linebackers, he remains a physical force close to the line, totaling 1,800-plus tackles for his career.
Even widely respected cover men like Sauce Gardner and Derek Stingley Jr. don’t cost a ton in 2025, but Gonzalez has the potential to be the biggest steal at the cornerback spot after a second-year breakout, in which he excelled operating against opposing teams’ No. 1 receivers. Marred by injuries as a rookie, the 22-year-old former Oregon standout could become the face of Mike Vrabel’s restocked Patriots defense.
A lot of the focus of the Eagles’ Super Bowl win fell upon familiar names like Jalen Hurts, Saquon Barkley and A.J. Brown. Yet the Birds’ suffocating defense was buoyed in part by a young secondary, which featured Mitchell, the first-round Toledo prospect, as a full-time starter on the perimeter. Unfazed in his first NFL action, “Q” saved his best work for last, logging four pass breakups and two picks in the playoffs.
If Mitchell paced the Eagles’ outside corners in 2024, then DeJean found instant stardom out of the slot, hovering around the ball with six pass breakups, three fumble recoveries and a Super Bowl pick-six of Patrick Mahomes. It’s possible his role could vary more in 2025 thanks to Philadelphia shuffling the safety position, but the beloved Iowa product already registers as a top Eagles fan favorite for good reason.
If you’re looking to find the next Ravens star due for a payday, look no further than Hamilton, who has basically been everything Baltimore dreamed of when the team picked him 14th overall out of Notre Dame in 2022. A do-it-all chess piece who’s taken snaps at almost every level of the defense, his 2024 numbers were down a bit from the year prior, but he remains one of the NFL’s most versatile defensive playmakers.
Some depth charts have Branch listed at cornerback, which is fair because he’s taken slot reps for Detroit, but the former Alabama standout is best described as a jack of all trades. Whereas fellow safety Kerby Joseph has made a name for himself plucking passes out of the air, Branch is more of an all-around tone-setter, bringing both attitude and versatility with 15 tackles for loss and 29 pass breakups in two years.
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Author: Cody Benjamin
June 23, 2025 | 8:45 am
