You are what your record says you are. That famous Bill Parcellsism has defined the NFL for decades. But shouldn’t a team be judged not just by its record, but how much it has invested to earn that record? That is the goal of The Ringer’s All In–dex. Now that we are past the NFL trade deadline, this is the perfect time to reassess who teams are and compare it with what they are trying to do—win now, or build for the future.
Teams have two main ways to improve their rosters: draft picks and money. Draft picks can be collected or traded away. Salary cap space can be rolled into the future like savings or borrowed from like debt. Taking these two factors together—how a team spends its money and its draft capital—we can get an idea of how “all in” a team is for a given season.
One easy example: The Denver Broncos are 3-5 and tied for last place in the AFC West. Meanwhile, the Seattle Seahawks are 5-2 and in first place in the NFC West. By the Parcells test, we see that one team is doing well and one team is doing poorly. But it is much more extreme than that. In 2022, the Broncos went all in with a trade for Russell Wilson in hopes of quickly becoming a Super Bowl contender. This past April, Seattle owned Denver’s first- and second-round picks (just as it did in 2022). But instead of the Broncos winning right away thanks to the massive trade and Seattle rebuilding, the opposite has happened. Seattle is in first place despite ranking 25th in the preseason All In–dex, and the Broncos are out of the playoff race, despite ranking in the top six here. The Seahawks are now the team preparing to compete for a championship this season, while the Broncos are making moves to preserve future flexibility.
Records let us know about results. The All In–dex takes those results and contextualizes them with a team’s goals. If a record tells you who a team is, the All In–dex, to paraphrase another former head coach, lets us check whether a team is who we thought they were.
Our Method
As we described in our preseason All In–dex in September, a team’s All In–dex score is calculated by weighing equally (a) how much it’s actively spending in 2023 and is scheduled to spend in salary in 2024 and 2025 (we call this the Spending Index), and (b) the value it has in draft capital (the Draft Index).
On the draft picks side, we are scoring the value of the draft pick slots they hold. This is key. The Seahawks took cornerback Devon Witherspoon with the fifth pick in this year’s draft. We are not evaluating in any way the performance of Witherspoon with these numbers (though he has been great this season). Instead, the rankings account for the overall value of those premium picks.
On the spending side, we are looking at the cash paid to players as well as the average annual value of their contracts. Cash spent is not the same as the salary cap, but it can be a better method of tracking teams going all in. If you want to read more about our methodology, check out our original explainer post here. Special thank you to Jason Fitzgerald’s excellent website Over the Cap, where we have sourced most of our financial numbers. The main change from our preseason formula in this latest edition is that we’re adding weight to draft picks in 2024 and 2025 now that we are closer to the end of the season and teams are beginning to trade those future picks.
Without further ado, the 2023 Post–Trade Deadline All In–dex:
1. Cleveland Browns
Spending rank: 3
Draft rank: 1
Preseason rank: 1
The Browns remain at the top of the All In–dex because of the Deshaun Watson trade, which is wild because Watson has played in just four games this season and played a relatively small role in Cleveland’s 4-3 start, which has put them in position for a wild-card berth. The Browns traded three first-rounders and change to Houston for Watson, and then signed him to a fully guaranteed five-year contract worth $230 million. By the end of this season, the Browns will have paid Watson more than $91 million with little to show for it. Among the 39 quarterbacks with 300 dropbacks since the beginning of 2022, Watson ranks 38th in expected points added per dropback (ahead of only Zach Wilson). Watson has thrown just five passes since Week 3, as he’s dealt with a mysterious lingering shoulder injury, and no one in Cleveland can seem to articulate when he might return.
Unless Watson gets healthy and begins showing glimpses of the player he was in Houston, the Browns’ trade for him will go down as one of the worst trades in NFL history.
2. New Orleans Saints
Spending rank: 1
Draft rank: 9
Preseason rank: 5
Yes, you read that correctly: the New Orleans Saints are the second-most all-in team in 2023. The Saints take money out of their future salary cap like someone taking money out of an ATM on Bourbon Street at 3 a.m.
There is a (boring) NFL accounting loophole called “restructuring” where teams guarantee their existing veterans more money in the future to free up cash now. It’s almost like borrowing money from a veteran player’s contract in exchange for taking a massive penalty if they cut that player. Most teams do this to an extent, usually with a handful of veterans the team knows it will not cut. But New Orleans’s reliance on restructuring contracts is almost literally off the charts.
As you can imagine, this is not sustainable. But the Saints have to keep doing it because they have no other choice. They are already projected to be more than $71 million over next year’s cap, and the only way to get back under is to keep restructuring deals.
It’s one thing if the Saints are funding a lifestyle of NFL luxury knowing the champagne is going to run out soon. But is this current life so glamorous? Trying to sprint for an NFC South title against an Atlanta Falcons team caught between Desmond Ridder and Taylor Heinicke at quarterback and a Buccaneers team hungover from its post–Tom Brady glory years? The Saints aren’t even doing anything cool with the cash on Bourbon Street; they’re just sitting in front of a slot machine, pulling a lever and trying not to feel dead inside.
3. Miami Dolphins
Spending rank: 6
Draft rank: 3
Preseason rank: 3
4. Buffalo Bills
Spending rank: 2
Draft rank: 13
Preseason rank: 6
5. San Francisco 49ers
Spending rank: 4
Draft rank: 8
Preseason rank: 4
The 49ers were a rare contending team that made a deadline deal. They flipped a compensatory third-rounder (expected to be roughly the 100th pick in next year’s draft) to Washington for former no. 2 pick Chase Young, supercharging their defensive line and preparing them for a Super Bowl run. It’s a great move for a team that has money to play with right now.
For all the talk about Brock Purdy’s play, what is exceptional about the second-year quarterback is his performance versus his pay. While Cleveland is paying Deshaun Watson more than $2.7 million per game, San Francisco won’t have even paid Brock Purdy $2.7 million before the end of next season. At his current rate, Purdy is earning $51,000 per game. In exchange for being 2 percent of Watson’s cost, Purdy ranks second in EPA per dropback among the 34 quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks this season, while Watson ranks dead last. Is Purdy good enough to lead the 49ers to come-from-behind wins in imperfect situations? Probably not. But Purdy is bankrolling the absurd talent around him.
6. Denver Broncos
Spending rank: 10
Draft rank: 2
Preseason rank: 2
The Broncos have invested three first-rounders, three second-rounders, and approximately a quarter of a billion dollars in their combo of quarterback Russell Wilson and head coach Sean Payton. In exchange, the Broncos are 3-5 and tied for last in the AFC West; their one saving grace is that they beat the Chiefs last week for the first time in 17 games. But Payton no longer has illusions about the season. Last month, Denver traded underperforming veteran defensive end Randy Gregory, who delivered three sacks in 10 games after signing a five-year deal worth up to $70 million in 2022, and released 2023 free agent addition Frank Clark to save a few million bucks. (In the case of Gregory, it wasn’t necessarily a salary dump; according to ESPN, the Broncos will continue to pay most of Gregory’s 2023 salary after the ick swap trade with the 49ers.) But the Broncos still have multiple veterans they may move on from this offseason who didn’t get traded at the deadline, like former first-round receiver Jerry Jeudy.
7. Baltimore Ravens
Spending rank: 8
Draft rank: 4
Preseason rank: 8
8. Philadelphia Eagles
Spending rank: 5
Draft rank: 20
Preseason rank: 13
9. Los Angeles Chargers
Spending rank: 9
Draft rank: 17
Preseason rank: 7
10. New York Jets
Spending rank: 11
Draft rank: 10
Preseason rank: 9
11. Dallas Cowboys
Spending rank: 13
Draft rank: 5
Preseason rank: 10
12. Cincinnati Bengals
Spending rank: 14
Draft rank: 14
Preseason rank: 12
13. Kansas City Chiefs
Spending rank: 18
Draft rank: 7
Preseason rank: 16
14. Seattle Seahawks
Spending rank: 7
Draft rank: 27
Preseason rank: 25
No team has moved up more from the preseason All In–dex than the Seahawks. In September, Seattle ranked 25th, largely on the back of its draft haul from the Russell Wilson trade. But now, Seattle is moving up the list after its aggressiveness at this week’s trade deadline, when it sent a second- and a fifth-rounder to the Giants for defensive end Leonard Williams. Seattle still seems to be ahead of schedule in its quest to challenge the 49ers for a division title. But the Seahawks have been reckless with draft capital before, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them continue to throw picks at veterans in the offseason no matter how this season ends.
15. Jacksonville Jaguars
Spending rank: 17
Draft rank: 18
Preseason rank: 14
16. Pittsburgh Steelers
Spending rank: 12
Draft rank: 23
Preseason rank: 15
17. New York Giants
Spending rank: 16
Draft rank: 19
Preseason rank: 11
18. Atlanta Falcons
Spending rank: 15
Draft rank: 21
Preseason rank: 21
19. Los Angeles Rams
Spending rank: 22
Draft rank: 11
Preseason rank: 19
20. Carolina Panthers
Spending rank: 24
Draft rank: 6
Preseason rank: 22
21. Minnesota Vikings
Spending rank: 25
Draft rank: 15
Preseason rank: 17
22. Las Vegas Raiders
Spending rank: 19
Draft rank: 24
Preseason rank: 20
Raiders owner Mark Davis fired head coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler late Tuesday night. Whoever takes the wheel next has so many holes to plug that it’s hard to know where to start. Not counting the current rookies, there might not be half a dozen players on the team now who will still be there in 2025. That is what happens when teams make poor free agent investments (read: Bill Belichick’s castoffs) and whiff in the draft. The Raiders have the outrageous distinction of extending just two of their past seven first-round picks.
Davis deluded himself into thinking Vegas could compete with the Chiefs in the AFC West when he hired McDaniels. The next coach and general manager will need a pragmatic approach. Receiver Davante Adams and defensive end Maxx Crosby are superstars, but Vegas is so bleak that Adams and Crosby may need to be traded to properly rebuild the team.
23. Tennessee Titans
Spending rank: 31
Draft rank: 12
Preseason rank: 18
24. Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Spending rank: 30
Draft rank: 16
Preseason rank: 24
25. Indianapolis Colts
Spending rank: 21
Draft rank: 26
Preseason rank: 26
26. Green Bay Packers
Spending rank: 20
Draft rank: 28
Preseason rank: 27
27. Washington Commanders
Spending rank: 27
Draft rank: 25
Preseason rank: 23
The Commanders on Tuesday traded away defensive ends Chase Young and Montez Sweat, two former first-rounders on expiring contracts, in exchange for day-two picks. Washington netted a second-rounder for Sweat and a third-rounder for Young. These are among the first significant roster moves since Josh Harris purchased the team from Daniel Snyder earlier this year, and they’re a sign that a football overhaul is coming in 2024. It may not feel like it yet, but Washington is in a new era.
28. New England Patriots
Spending rank: 32
Draft rank: 22
Preseason rank: 28
29. Houston Texans
Spending rank: 23
Draft rank: 30
Preseason rank: 30
Stuck between drafting quarterback C.J. Stroud and defensive end Will Anderson Jr. with the second pick in the 2023 draft, Houston decided to trade up to no. 3 and select both. While that decision was criticized at the time, Stroud and Anderson both already look like legit NFL starters with the capacity to be stars. Houston is 3-4, which isn’t bad after going 3-13-1 all of last season. (Houston is two wins away from its best mark since 2019.) Anderson has just one sack but already looks like a difference maker. This Texans team still has Cleveland’s first-rounder in 2024 from the Watson trade (though it sent its own to Arizona in the trade up for Anderson), and it looks ahead of schedule in all the important ways for a squad this low on the All In–dex.
30. Detroit Lions
Spending rank: 26
Draft rank: 29
Preseason rank: 29
31. Chicago Bears
Spending rank: 29
Draft rank: 31
Preseason rank: 31
The Bears have their own first-rounder plus Carolina’s in the 2024 draft, giving them two of the top four picks if the season ended today. But strangely, the Bears dealt away their second-rounder—likely a top-40 pick—for the second year in a row. Chicago on Tuesday spent a second-rounder for Washington’s Montez Sweat, a solid defensive end due to hit free agency in March. Why Chicago saw fit to acquire Sweat without laying the groundwork for an extension beforehand is unclear.
Yet even without that second-rounder, Chicago should still be in position next year to reset its future and draft a quarterback to replace Justin Fields. But the Bears have been a mismanaged franchise for a decade (and that’s being kind), and although they have cap space and draft capital, that doesn’t mean they will begin using it wisely or developing the surrounding talent around their star players.
32. Arizona Cardinals
Spending rank: 28
Draft rank: 32
Preseason rank: 32
With six picks in the first three rounds of next year’s draft, including two potentially high first-rounders, the Cardinals are in position to control the next offseason. Arizona’s options seem limitless. The Cardinals’ main action item right now is seeing how Kyler Murray plays for the second half of the season and determining whether they want to remain committed to him as their franchise quarterback or whether they want to use these picks as an off-ramp to a new quarterback, flip Murray for even more picks, and build around a new franchise passer. Arizona is all out this season, but it has the freedom to go anywhere.
