Big Ten football programs have been pipelines to the pros for decades, and modern NFL rosters are stuffed with players coming out of the league.
BetOhio.com, as part of our Ohio sports betting insight, used data from OverTheCap.com to develop the following rankings of Big Ten football teams for cap dollars spent on players by NFL teams heading into the 2025 NFL season.
| Rank | Team | Cap Dollars (2025) |
| 1 | Ohio State Buckeyes | $347,710,165 |
| 2 | Michigan Wolverines | $189,274,139 |
| 3 | Penn State Nittany Lions | $164,195,311 |
| 4 | USC Trojans | $148,364,735 |
| 5 | Iowa Hawkeyes | $144,419,554 |
| 6 | Oregon Ducks | $131,433,669 |
| 7 | Wisconsin Badgers | $130,380,250 |
| 8 | Washington Huskies | $114,423,136 |
| 9 | UCLA Bruins | $83,840,662 |
| 10 | Michigan State Spartans | $72,807,865 |
| 11 | Minnesota Golden Gophers | $54,142,388 |
| 12 | Maryland Terrapins | $53,587,050 |
| 13 | Illinois Fighting Illini | $45,630,765 |
| 14 | Northwestern Wildcats | $45,310,986 |
| 15 | Nebraska Cornhuskers | $22,786,233 |
| 16 | Purdue Boilermakers | $20,005,642 |
| 17 | Rutgers Scarlet Knights | $16,139,849 |
| 18 | Indiana Hoosiers | $9,489,926 |
Note: Current free agents were not included in study. This analysis comes from betOhio.com, where real money Ohio sportsbook promos are available for folks signing up with operators.
Players from the four new teams to the conference in the 2024-25 academic year – Oregon, Washington, USC and UCLA – are included in this list, though current NFL players represented those programs when they were in the Pac-12.
For the 2024 season, the NFL salary cap was $255.4 million per team. But each club can also issue up to $74 million in player benefits. The league announced in early March that the 2025 total, as agreed to by the NFL and the NFL Players Association, will be $279.2 million per club. How much a team has in available cap space could inform customers at Ohio sports betting apps how active a team could be in pursuing the best free agents in the offseason.
Cap configurations are complicated, as financial breakdowns at OverTheCap.com demonstrate. For instance: Former Ohio State star and All-Pro Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Cam Heyward (above) is drawing a base salary of only $1.3 million for the 2025 season. But with a roster bonus and a prorated signing bonus figured in, his salary cap hit is $19.65 million, the third-highest on the Steelers.
Ohio State has won the Big Ten championship four times in the past eight years, though not since 2020. But bigger than that, in January the Buckeyes won the national title in the first College Football Playoff with a 12-team format.
At Caesars Ohio Sportsbook, the Buckeyes have +475 odds to defend their national championship by winning the CFP again in the 2025-26 season. They’re a slight favorite over Texas (+500), Georgia and Penn State (+650 each), then Oregon (+750) as of March 4.
So it is no surprise that OSU is the Big Ten leader in combined NFL salary cap hits for 2025, with archrival Michigan a long way behind in second.
Former Buckeyes – 62 of them, according to the counter at Over The Cap – combine for $347.76 million in 2025 NFL cap hits, again not including current free agents. That not only leads the conference, it’s second in the nation behind Alabama ($446.66 million spread out among 70 NFL players). Oklahoma ($297.76 million), Clemson ($271.61M) and LSU ($266.26M) round out the top five nationwide.
Michigan’s 52 current players combine for $189.27 million in cap hits, ninth overall. Penn State is third in the Big Ten and 10th overall at $164.36 million, followed by conference newcomer USC (No. 12 overall, $148.36M) and Iowa (No. 13 overall, $144.42M).
The 18 programs now in the league account for nearly $1.8 billion in current NFL cap space, second behind (you guessed it) the SEC’s 16 schools, which boast $2.395 billion altogether.
At bet365 Ohio Sportsbook, OSU has +150 odds to win the Big Ten next winter, ahead of Oregon (+240) and Penn State (+400).
Atop the former Bucks now drawing the big bucks is San Francisco 49ers EDGE Nicks Bosa, whose average per year (APY) of $34 million for the life of his contract is the highest among defensive players. His cap hit for 2025 is just over $20.5 million.
His brother Joey Bosa, also a former defensive stalwart at OSU, had a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers worth $13 million a year in base salary and a salary cap number of nearly $36.5 million for next season. However, the Chargers released him on March 6.
Other former Buckeyes who are high on the cap chart include Seattle Seahawks DL Tre’Mont Jones ($25.65 million cap hit for 2025), Cleveland Browns cornerback Denzel Ward ($24.525 million) and two Washington Commanders, wide receiver Terry McLaurin ($25.5M), and CB Marshon Lattimore ($18M).
The best NFL betting apps will have NFL Draft props for the late April extravaganza, keeping fans interested in football wagering even during the league's offseason.
USA Today photo by Philip G. Pavely
Author
Ohio native Jim Tomlin has 30 years of experience in journalism, mostly in sports. He lends his expertise to BetOhio.com as a writer and editor after previous experience at the Tampa Bay Times, FanRag, Saturday Down South and Saturday Tradition.
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