Ranking 10 Worst Contracts in NFL Ahead of 2023 Season

There are few things that hinder an NFL teams' ability to win a championship more than bad contracts. They clog precious salary cap space and limit the talent that general managers can bring in to reinforce their rosters.

While NFL contracts generally aren't guaranteed, it can still be tough for clubs to rid themselves of these albatross deals due to dead cap hits. This dead money—made up of unpaid bonuses and guarantees still owed to a cut player—counts against the salary cap in future seasons and throttles a team's spending cash. It often weighs heavily in a front office's decision to release a player and can result in washed up veterans lingering on a roster despite offering little on-field value.

With that in mind, here is a ranked list of the 10 worst contracts in the NFL right now. Factors such as recent production, projected contributions over the remaining life of the deal, positional value, age and how costly a release will be were all considered in the rankings.

All contract data courtesy of Spotrac

Remaining contract: Two years, $22 million

Darious Williams was one of the league's most promising young cornerbacks early in his career. After going undrafted in 2018 and getting cut by the Baltimore Ravens just a month into his rookie year, Williams caught on with the Los Angeles Rams and emerged as a regular starter by 2020. Following a solid run with the Rams, Williams hit the open market last year and inked a sizable three-year, $30 million deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Thus far the signing hasn't been worth the expense. Although he appeared in every game and started 12 of them, Williams had a poor year for the Jags. He failed to record any interceptions for the second straight season and had just 53 tackles and 16 pass defenses despite seeing the field for over 80 percent of Jacksonville's defensive snaps. Williams' PFF grade was a replacement-level 61.4, dipping from the 65.3 he scored during his final season with the Rams and a far cry from the respectable marks of 80.0 and 78.9 he earned in 2019 and 2020, respectively.

Williams will now man the outside cornerback spot in 2023, a spot left vacant following the release of Shaq Griffin. If he can have a bounce-back year and thrive in this spot on a full-time basis, his contract will be reasonable. If not, the Jags at least have an out next season when the 30-year-old's release will only incur a $500,000 dead cap hit.

Remaining contract: Three years, $47.5 million

The Baltimore Ravens have stuck by Ronnie Stanley as their starting left tackle despite a slew of injuries that have severely limited his ability to stay on the field and contribute at a high level. Stanley, the No. 6 overall pick in 2016, established himself as one of the better blindside protectors early in his career, but has since missed significant amounts of time and set the Ravens back because of it.

Stanley has yet to suit up for every game in any of his seven professional seasons and has missed at least five games every year since making his lone Pro Bowl appearance back in 2019. He was been hindered by an ankle injury suffered midway through the 2020 campaign, causing him to miss most of that season and nearly all of the following one. He returned to participate in 11 contests this past season, but his play appears to have slipped due to the missed time and ailment. A rusty Stanley scored just a 70.9 PFF grade in 2022, well off the 88.5 mark he earned as an All-Pro in 2019.

With Stanley still owed nearly $50 million over the next three years, it will be imperative that he gets healthy and becomes a fixture in the offensive trenches to make his deal worthwhile for Baltimore. If he continues to struggle, the Ravens can rid themselves of his deal in 2024 in exchange for a $17.8 million dead cap hit.

Remaining contract: One year, $27 million

The Ryan Tannehill era once held plenty of promise for the Tennessee Titans, but after last year's ugly showing, it's likely time for the club to move on without the aging veteran. While Tannehill had some good years in the Music City—including earning Comeback Player of the Year and Pro Bowl honors in 2019—he's seen his production dip in each of the last two years and appears washed up.

Tannehill had one of the worst performances of his career in 2022, a season in which he completed 65.2 percent of his passes for just 2,536 yards and 13 touchdowns against six interceptions in 12 games. He went just .500 in those starts a year after leading the Titans to an AFC-best 12-5 record and missed five contests with an ankle issue.

After Tennessee traded up to acquire Will Levis near the top of the second round, Tannehill's starting job could be in jeopardy even if he returns to full strength in 2023. Although the Titans still owe Tannehill $27 million in the final year of his contract, Levis holds much more promise and could be the future for this organization.

Remaining contract: Two years, $34 million

The New York Jets were hoping to get a high-production field general who could set the tone and lead their defense when they signed C.J. Mosley to a a huge contract in 2019. While they may have eventually got something close to that, it took a while to reach this point.

Coming off a fantastic run with the Baltimore Ravens—the 2014 first-round pick earned four Pro Bowl and four second-team All-Pro nods in his first five seasons with the club—the Alabama product scored a five-year, $85 million deal from Gang Green on the open market. That massive deal for an off-ball linebacker—a position that many teams will not invest large sums of cash into—hasn't exactly paid dividends for New York.

Mosley has been hindered with injuries for much of his tenure with the organization, including missing 30 of a possible 32 games in the two years that followed the signing. When he finally returned to action in 2021. Mosley looked like a shell of his former self. Although he did secure 168 tackles and recorded a pair of forced fumbles and sacks, he finished the year with an atrocious 42.0 PFF grade.

Things looked a bit better for Mosley and the Jets last year, as he returned to Pro Bowl form while starting all 17 games. Despite the accolades, Mosley still only notched a 69.8 PFF grade, a mark that indicates he's an average talent at this late stage of his career. It's certainly not production worthy of a $17 million salary in 2023. If he slips, Gang Green may decide to cut Mosley in 2024 when he's on the books for $21.5 million but has a dead cap number of $10.4 million.

Remaining contract: Three years, $29.9 million

The New Orleans Saints' Taysom Hill experiment should be over, but the team will have to forge ahead with the expensive utility player on the roster for at least another year. Hill was signed to one of the league's more unique contract extensions in 2021, a four-year, $40 million deal that had escalators up to $90 million if he emerged as a franchise quarterback.

Despite getting a fair shake to assume the club's QB1 role left vacant in wake of Drew Brees' retirement, Hill lost a training camp battle to Jameis Winston that offseason and has only thrown 91 passes since signing the extension. While he's gone an impressive 7-2 as a starter during his career, Hill's accuracy (64.5 completion percentage) and turnovers (eight interceptions, 15 fumbles) make him a liability as a full-time passer. New head coach Dennis Allen opted against giving Hill any significant action under center last year, even with veteran journeyman Andy Dalton suffering through a trying campaign.

While Hill still adds some value as an unpredictable weapon, his usage was down significantly in 2022. After being officially listed as a tight end, he saw the field for just 33 percent of the offensive snaps. With Hill set to turn 33 years old during the upcoming campaign, it's unlikely he'll make much of an impact regardless of how the Saints decide to use him. New Orleans do have a semi-palatable out next year though, when Hill has a $15.8 million cap hit in comparison to a dead cap number of $16.9 million.

Remaining contract: Three years, $45 million

The Seattle Seahawks paid an exorbitantly high price to both acquire and keep Jamal Adams around. After starting his career as a first-round pick of the New York Jets in 2017, the safety forced his way out of the Big Apple following an All-Pro campaign in 2019. Seattle gave up two first-round picks and a third-rounder to get the then-25-year-old and rewarded Adams with a four-year, $72 million extension following his Pro Bowl performance in 2020.

While Adams started his career in the Pacific Northwest relatively strong, he's since been plagued by injuries and inconsistency. He's been absent for at least four games in each of the three seasons he's played for the Seahawks, including missing nearly the entire 2022 campaign with a torn quad suffered in the opener. He hasn't scored anything close to the 87.9 PFF grade he earned during his final year with Gang Green, notching a middling 64.2 mark in 2020 and an even worse 60.1 the following season.

With the real potential that Adams misses even more time at the start of 2023, the Seahawks seem to have whiffed on this trade. The 28-year-old is still owed $45 million over the next three years, a hefty cost in comparison to his contributions. Fortunately for Seattle, Adams' $16.5 million salary in 2024 can be dumped in exchange for a $14.2 million dead cap hit.

Remaining contract: Two years, $15 million

The New England Patriots decided to overhaul their tight end room completely prior to the 2021 campaign. The team doled out big deals to both Hunter Henry and Jonnu Smith that offseason, but neither ended up being a major asset for the club. Smith performed particularly poorly in comparison to his contract before being unceremoniously traded for a seventh-round pick back in March.

After signing a four-year, $50 million contract with the Pats, Smith ended up playing just two years for the club. While he appeared in 30 games and saw the field for approximately half of the offensive snaps, the tight end recorded just 55 catches for 539 yards and a single score in those contests. It was a significant dip in production following Smith's breakout 41-catch, 448-yard, eight-touchdown campaign for the Tennessee Titans in 2020.

The Falcons are now saddled with Smith's contract and will hope to get more value out of the 27-year-old than New England was able to. With Drake London and Kyle Pitts dominating the defensive attention, it's possible that Smith will re-emerge as a serviceable piece in Atlanta. If that doesn't come to fruition, the club can release him in 2024—taking just a $2.5 million dead cap hit while shedding $6.5 million in salary.

Remaining contract: Two years, $34 million

The Las Vegas Raiders went into the 2022 offseason with a goal of bolstering one of the league's weaker pass-rushing units. The team was coming off a pedestrian 35-sack campaign and had allowed 29 touchdowns against a meager six interceptions in 2021. This weak point seemed to be addressed with the splashy signing of Chandler Jones, a veteran pass-rusher who hit the open market following an impressive run with the Arizona Cardinals.

While Jones was dominant for much of his time in the desert—he recorded 71.5 sacks in 84 games with Arizona—he started to slip towards the end of that tenure. He missed 11 games during the 2020 campaign with injury and while he notched 10.5 sacks upon his return the following year, much of that production came during a five-sack performance in Week 1. He notched just one sack over his final four appearances for the Cardinals.

That drop-off didn't deter the Raiders from doling out a big contract to a player well on the wrong side of 30. Despite playing with one of the league's top up-and-coming edge rushers in Maxx Crosby, Jones' inaugural season in Vegas went poorly. He finished with a meager 4.5 sacks in 15 contests while earning a pedestrian 63.8 PFF grade for his efforts.

Jones is heading into his age 33 season with little upside and reason to believe he'll bounce back from that showing. The Raiders used the No. 7 overall pick on an elite pass-rushing prospect in Tyree Wilson and could elect to phase the aging veteran out of their defensive plans if his skills continue to decline. Vegas won't be able to completely rid itself of Jones until 2024, however, when his dead cap hit will drop to $12.3 million in comparison to his $17 million salary.

Remaining contract: Four years, $121.5 million

It's hard to fault the Los Angeles Rams' decision to go all-in two years ago. The team gave up a slew of draft picks to build a loaded roster chock-full of pricy veterans—the most notable of these moves was the blockbuster trade that brought Matt Stafford to Southern California—but the bet paid off with a championship at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign. The team now must pay the piper, however, finding itself mired in salary cap hell with little relief in sight.

Stafford did have a fantastic first season in Los Angeles, throwing for nearly 5,000 yards and racking up 41 touchdowns while starting all 17 regular season games. He was instrumental in guiding the club to its second Lombardi Trophy, completing 70 percent of his playoff passes while tallying nine scores against top-flight competition. He couldn't summon that same magic during an injury-ravaged 2021 season, a year in which Stafford saw action in just nine games and had nearly as many interceptions (eight) as he did touchdown throws (10).

With Stafford and many of his star-caliber teammates banged up, the Rams mounted the worst title defense in NFL history. The organization was forced to start "remodeling" after that dismal showing, a strategy that resulted in key pieces like Jalen Ramsey getting traded and Leonard Floyd exiting in free agency. The Rams' lack of draft capital resulted in only minor reinforcements arriving through that avenue while pricy contracts such as Stafford's limited L.A.'s ability to shore up weak points on the open market.

Going into his age 35 season, it's looking like Stafford's best days are behind him. The Rams seem cognizant of this reality and would have "welcomed" trade offers that never came earlier this offseason. With no realistic out until 2026—when Stafford can be released with a dead cap hit of $18.5 million against his $31 million salary—the next few years could be rough for Los Angeles.

Remaining contract: Six years, $239 million

The Russell Wilson trade has been disastrous for the Denver Broncos. Not only did the club mortgage its future for the quarterback—sending a package headlined by two first-round and two second-round draft picks to acquire him—but it also put itself in a dire financial situation due to the contract it doled out to the nine-time Pro Bowler.

Wilson inked a five-year extension valued at a staggering $245 million shortly after the trade was finalized. The deal included $165 million in guaranteed money, ranking behind only Deshaun Watson and Kyler Murray for the largest amount ever. Unfortunately for Denver, that investment is already looking to be one of the biggest missteps in league history.

The Broncos' offense was downright atrocious last year. The unit ranked dead last in scoring, averaging a lowly 16.9 points per game. The squad narrowly breeched the 200 passing yard per game mark, while Wilson took a concerning 55 of the league-high 63 sacks that Denver gave up last year. This abysmal performance resulted in some massive changes this offseason—most notably the firing of head coach Nathaniel Hackett and acquiring an expensive replacement in Sean Payton—as team won't be able to rid itself of Wilson due to the massive financial burden it would incur.

Wilson's deal has eye-popping amounts of dead cap hits attached to it, including $107 million for 2023, $85 million in 2024 and nearly $50 million in 2025. The earliest the Broncos could reasonably get out from under this deal is in 2026, when they would still assume a $31.2 million dead cap charge while shedding the signal-caller's $40 million salary.