With questions surrounding the individual player salaries as well as the salary cap for 2011, the numbers of the top ten highest paid players at their respective positions has been leaked to the web...

QB
Mark Sanchez, NYJ, $13.5M
Ben Roethlisberger, PIT, $11.6M
Carson Palmer, CIN, $11.5M
Tony Romo, DAL, $9M
Vince Young, TEN, $8.5M
Eli Manning, NYG, $8.5M
Philip Rivers, SD, $8.4M
David Garrard, JAX, $7.975M
Jay Cutler, CHI, $7.6M
Drew Brees, NO, $7.393M

RB
Reggie Bush, NO, $11.8M
Adrian Peterson, MIN, $10.72M
Clinton Portis, WAS, $8.254M
Steven Jackson, STL, $7.2M
Willis McGahee, BAL, $6M
Michael Turner, ATL, $5M
Brandon Jacobs, NYG, $4.65M
Darren McFadden, OAK, $4.593M
Marion Barber, DAL, $4.25M
Maurice Jones-Drew, JAX, $4.05M

WR
Calvin Johnson, DET, $10.45M
Miles Austin, DAL, $8.54M
Steve Smith, CAR, $7M
Larry Fitzgerald, ARI, $7M
Brandon Marshall, MIA, $6.5M
Anquan Boldin, BAL, $6M
Chad Ochocinco, CIN, $6M
Andre Johnson, HOU, $6M
Reggie Wayne, IND, $5.95M
Roy Williams, DAL, $5.109M

TE
Kellen Winslow, TB, $8.259M
Tony Gonzalez, ATL, $5.75M
Antonio Gates, SD, $5.2M
Vernon Davis, SF, $4.708M
Todd Heap, BAL, $4.6M
Jeremy Shockey, NO, $4.508M
Dallas Clark, IND, $4.2M
Daniel Graham, DEN, $4.2M
Chris Cooley, WAS, $3.7M
Jason Witten, DAL, $3.391M

OL
Jake Long, MIA, $10M
Marcus McNeill, SD, $10M
Joe Thomas, CLE, $8M
Donald Penn, TB, $7.2M
Chris Kuper, DEN, $7M
Steve Hutchinson, MIN, $6.68M
Eric Steinbach, CLE, $6.25M
Leonard Davis, DAL, $6M
Jordan Gross, CAR, $6M
Jacob Bell, STL, $6M

DE
Mario Williams, HOU, $13.6M
Dwight Freeney, IND, $11.42M
Jared Allen, MIN, $8.979M
Justin Smith, SF, $8.209M
John Abraham, ATL, $8M
Will Smith, NO, $6M
Antonio Smith, HOU, $4.6M
Antwan Odom, CIN, $4.5M
Aaron Smith, PIT, $4.5M
Kyle Vanden Bosch, DET, $4.5M

DT
Kevin Williams, MIN, $6M
Shaun Rodgers, CLE, $5.5M
Tommy Kelly, OAK, $5.5M
Albert Haynesworth, WAS, $5.4M
Chris Canty, NYG, $5.25M
Corey Williams, DET, $4.9M
Marcus Stroud, BUF, $4.5M
Tony Brown, TEN, $4M
Jamal Williams, DEN, $4M
Casey Hampton, PIT, $3.91M

LB
Elvis Dumervil, DEN, $14M
AJ Hawk, GB, $10M
Brian Urlacher, CHI, $8.025M
Julian Peterson, DET, $8M
DeMarcus Ware, DAL, $6.7M
DeMeco Ryans, HOU, $5.8M
Joey Porter, ARI, $5.75M
Nick Barnett, GB, $5.5M
Jonathan Vilma, NO, $5.13M
Aaron Curry, SEA, $5.076M

CB
Terrence Newman, DAL, $8M
Corey Webster, NYG, $8M
Nate Clements, SF, $7.25M
Darrelle Revis, NYJ, $7M
Antoine Winfield, MIN, $6.75M
Chris Gamble, CAR, $6.244M
Kelvin Hayden, IND, $6.105M
Asante Samuel, PHI, $5.9M
Marcus Trufant, SEA, $5.9M
Will D. Allen, MIA, $5.5M

S
Ed Reed, BAL, $6.5M
Chris Hope, TEN, $6.5M
Troy Polamalu, PIT, $6.4M
Brian Dawkins, DEN, $6M
Bob Sanders, IND, $5.5M
Madieu Williams, MIN, $5.4M
Antrel Rolle, NYG, $5.25M
Antoine Bethea, IND, $4.745M
LaRon Landry, WAS, $3.715M
Yeremiah Bell, MIA, $3.7M

K/P
Shane Lechler, OAK, $3.2M
Sebastian Janikowski, OAK, $2.6M
Josh Brown, SEA, $2.6M
Rob Bironas, TEN, $2.4M
Jason Hanson, DET, $2.175M
Neil Rackers, ARI, $2.15M
Josh Scobee, JAX, $2M
John Kasey, CAR, $2M
Joe Nedney, SF, $1.87M
Nate Kaeding, SD, $1.8M

 

Some teams front-load contracts, some teams back-load them... Brady seems to always be a steady $5-6M per year.

 

No cap hit for cutting a player or trading a player. Always try to dangle a player for trade before you outright cut him would be my advice.

And the salary cap will be decided as soon as teams are posted on Super Bowl Sunday.

 

And if anyone noticed... you can get the franchise and transition tag numbers based on this list...

 

Franchise = average of top 5 salaries at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DT, DE, LB, CB, S, K/P)
Transition = average of top 10 salaries at each position (QB, RB, WR, TE, OL, DT, DE, LB, CB, S, K/P)