Tyler Linderbaum’s massive contract to have far-reaching impact on NFL player salaries

 

Charles Robinson | Senior reporter

Thu, April 16, 2026 at 8:00 PM EDT

The $81 Million Player Who Shattered the NFL’s Salary Scale

 

Center Tyler Linderbaum transformed the economics of his position by landing a deal worth 50% more a year than any of his peers

 

By Andrew Beaton

March 10, 2026 9:00 am ET

The Raiders signed center Tyler Linderbaum to a 3-year, $81 million deal. Terrance Williams/Associated Press

 

Tyler Linderbaum had every attribute he needed to set off a bidding war when NFL free agency kicked off on Monday. 

Over four seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, he had clearly established himself among the best centers in the league. At 25 years old, he was also in the prime of his career. Even better, he was the only offensive lineman of his caliber on the market.

The only factor standing between him and breaking the bank was a general view that centers weren’t as valuable as other positions. Which is what made the deal Linderbaum received even more stunning. 

On Monday, Linderbaum agreed to a three-year, $81 million contract with the Las Vegas Raiders that not only made the highest-paid player at his position—it completely warped the NFL’s salary scale. The previous top deal for a center, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Creed Humphrey, was for $18 million a year. At $27 million annually, Linderbaum raised the bar by 50%. 

Under normal circumstances, those records move in small increments, not gigantic leaps. But Linderbaum had a perfect storm on his side to supercharge his market. Players so young and so talented don’t become free agents all that often. And with the NFL salary cap now over $300 million, teams had plenty of money to spend—without many other top-shelf players to lavish it on. 

As it turns out, the team with the most money at its disposal was the one that landed him. The Raiders had over $100 million in room beneath the salary cap—along with a need to protect their most important asset. In next month’s NFL draft, they have the No. 1 draft pick, which they’re all but certain to use on Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.  

At 25, Linderbaum is in the prime of his career. Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images

 

So the Raiders didn’t think twice about splurging on the guy who will snap him the ball. As general manager Jon Spytek recently explained, bringing in a young quarterback means a need to keep him upright. 

“You want to limit the amount of pressure you have on that guy,” Spytek said. “A great offensive line, a run game, all the things that can limit his chances to really get killed.”

To understand how NFL teams value their rosters, you only need to glance at which positions draw the most cash. Quarterbacks are at the top, with 11 passers now having received deals worth more than $50 million a year. 

After that, the top pass rushers and wide receivers tend to have the most earning power. Centers only begin to appear near the bottom of the scale. Even compared to other offensive linemen, they tend to be cheap. The highest-paid tackle last year made $30.1 million, or 67% more than the Chiefs’ Humphrey. The top guard was also significantly higher at $24 million a year. 

That made centers a potential inefficiency in the market. The league is flush with strong pass rushers who come through the middle. And as modern defenses do more to disguise their coverages and blitzes, centers have an even bigger job as the brains of the offensive line. 

It’s no wonder that some of the savviest teams in the league understood it was worth shelling out for a good one. Before Linderbaum, the two centers who earned the most belonged to the Chiefs and Eagles—who have three of the past four Super Bowls between them. 

Linderbaum capitalized on all of that during free agency’s soft opening, which featured the typical frenzy of agreements that can be officially signed on Wednesday. On a day that saw the Chiefs sign Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker from the Seahawks and linebacker Jaelan Phillips land a four-year, $120 million deal with the Panthers, Linderbaum was the one who transformed the economics of his position.

Linderbaum was a first-round selection of the Ravens in 2022. Julio Cortez/Associated Press

 

The odd twist is that the Ravens could have kept Linderbaum, one of their first-round draft picks in 2022, for far less. Last year, they had an option to keep him for an additional season, but it would’ve cost $23.4 million, which was $5 million more than the top of the center market. They deemed that too much and instead sought to work out a deal that they felt was more reasonable. 

“It is our intention for him to remain a Baltimore Raven long term,” general manager Eric DeCosta said at the time. 

What the Ravens didn’t count on was another team straying so far positional norms. But coming off a three-win season, the Raiders weren’t afraid to go to extreme lengths to rebuild their franchise.

“We’ve got a lot of needs to address,” Spytek said recently, “and we’ve got a lot of capital to do it.”

Copyright ©2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8

Appeared in the March 11, 2026, print edition as 'The $81 Million Center Who Shattered NFL’s Salary Scale'.

2026 NFL free agency awards: Best, worst, surprising moves

  

Ben Solak

Mar 11, 2026, 06:30 AM ET

 

And just like that, NFL free agency is over!

 

Well, not really. It actually starts on Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET -- but as ESPN's Adam Schefter rightfully bemoaned earlier this week, let's just start calling the legal negotiation period (which began Monday) the real opening of free agency. Almost all of the significant dust has settled on major movers and new deals.

 

I like to hand out awards after the early parts of every free agent period. These aren't awards for biggest winners (your favorite team, surely) and biggest losers (the team that stole your favorite free agent targets, surely). My colleague Bill Barnwell hit all those on Tuesday. This is for the sillier stuff. The Market Buster Award. The Friendship Award. The Arch Manning Seat Warmer Award.

 

Intrigued? I sure hope so.

The Market Buster Award: Tyler Linderbaum

 

Yes, $27 million per year. 27! Twenty. Seven.

 

When the Raiders signed Linderbaum to a three-year, $81 million deal Monday, they reset the center market in a way that markets simply don't get reset in the NFL. The then-biggest deal at center was Creed Humphrey's deal at $18 million per year. Linderbaum's $27 million per year represents a 50% increase at the top. Unfathomable.

 

Here's a current look at the biggest contract at every position in the NFL by APY and what a new contract would have to hit in order to create a proportional increase to the "Linderbaum Leap" (copyright Ben Solak 2026, nobody else is allowed to use that without my written consent).

 

The 'Linderbaum Leap' at every position

 

 

Think about this: A team would have to pay an edge rusher $70 million or a running back over $30 million or a defensive tackle almost $50 million to get a proportionate jump. I only included kicker at the bottom because it might actually happen this year; Brandon Aubrey's negotiations with the Cowboys could get him around $10 million per year, which would be a 50% increase over Ka'imi Fairbairn's newly minted $6.5 million-per-year deal.

 

It's very easy to look at the Raiders, who entered the period with over $100 million in cap space, and shrug at the Linderbaum deal. Why not sign him for whatever exorbitant figure ensured he took his services to Las Vegas and nowhere else? (This, of course, was a much easier argument to make before Maxx Crosby's $30 million cap hit was suddenly catapulted back onto the Raiders' cap when the Ravens failed his physical and backed out of the trade. But it's the best Las Vegas knew at the time!)

 

This perspective is fine, but it doesn't change the fact that $27 million is an enormous number. Linderbaum is the sixth-highest-paid offensive lineman in all of football on this deal -- below only four left tackles and one right tackle. We've simply never seen an interior offensive lineman valued like this.

 

It's interesting to try to figure out when Linderbaum's deal will get beat. The league's best centers on rookie contracts are Zach Frazier (Pittsburgh) and Graham Barton (Buccaneers). Both were drafted in 2024 and are extension eligible after the upcoming season. Barton has a fifth-year option of team control; Frazier will be a free agent in 2028. We'll know how the Linderbaum deal has fallen for the Raiders by then, but if it goes well, more teams might be willing to pay their centers more than their guards -- and close to their tackles.

 

It's a trend to watch. But who knows what's really going to happen. We're in uncharted waters here -- $27 million worth of uncharted waters.