The problem with over-paying for someone to get a sack was very evident this last season as the Patriots and Broncos battled in November. Denver has two exceptional pass rushers in DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller, both of whom account for a total of about $17 million towards the Broncos cap. The Patriots are blocking both of these top rushers with Nate Solder and Sebastian Vollmer, both accounting for less the $7 million dollars combined in cap space. They aren’t the “top” blocking players at their positions necessarily, but they are very good players. When the Patriots also chose to play nearly the entire game in quick-passing mode where Tom Brady has the ball in his hand for typically less than three seconds, the expenditure for those top pass rushers is almost entirely negated.

In this instance, “good” coupled with a simple scheme tweak is better than “great.” As far as it relates to winning, football allows you negate the benefit of another teams concentrated expenditure. The Broncos could have gotten the exact same benefit in that particular game from pass rushers who cost half as much money, and who would allow the team to be improved in other areas where they were more vulnerable. In this instance,the “great” players were a disutility.