The 36 NFL players with the highest cap hits in 2021, from Matt Ryan to Michael Thomas

Patrick Mahomes' spot is somewhat surprising. And, no, it's not just quarterbacks.

Let’s take stock of the most costly players in the NFL before the 2021 NFL league year opens on March 17. That’s when free agency will open and that’s when the league will reset the market for a number of outstanding players at their position. Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, for example, should land on this list within weeks — and maybe days.

For the sake of simplicity, let’s measure the sheer scale of the top contracts in salary cap hit for 2021. Because of signing bonuses, players’ cap hits don’t always correlate to what they actually make in cash in a given year. But for team-building purposes, a player’s cap hit is important. It’s how much space they consume on the salary cap, and if it’s a huge contract (like these ones), it dictates what sort of supporting talent will be on the team.

Here are the 36 players with the biggest salary cap hits in the NFL, via Spotrac.com.