Six of the top-10 spenders during the 2017 NFL free agency period (Patriots, Titans, Rams, Vikings, Panthers, Jaguars) made the playoffs.

Over the past six years, the cap has jumped from $120 million to $167 million and it has climbed by at least $10 million year over year during the past four seasons. 

After the 2011 collective bargaining agreement, rookie salaries also became significantly cheaper which opened up even more cap space.

The competitive balance changed dramatically as teams had to figure out how to use the new cap space.

“It’s the biggest untold story in football,” said former Philadelphia Eagles and Cleveland Browns president Joe Banner. “With the excessive amount of available cap space, close to a billion dollars—some teams can’t mentally keep up with that.”

The common wisdom just a few years ago that free agency was a bad investment for teams.

Sports Illustrated wrote just three years ago that some big-spending teams had learned that “shelling out cash to players who are nearing their 30s can end up backfiring in spectacular fashion.”

Multiple league executives, coaches, and experts told The Ringer that it is changing the way teams are built at an unprecedented pace and turned free agency from a last resort into a legitimate team-building strategy.

“I can distinctly remember the days when it was almost every year, you had to let people go because of money,” Los Angeles Rams general manager Les Snead said. “Nowadays, I don’t ever remember thinking, ‘Uh-oh, we’re up against the books here.’ Now, it’s more of a strategy. ‘If we keep this guy, what does it keep us from doing?’ It’s not, ‘Hey, we’ve gotta do some things just to get legal.’ I think that’s what has allowed you to make, let’s call it ‘strategic football decisions.’”

The following shows the matchups of the NFL Divisional Round based on DVOA by Football Outsiders for the 2017 regular season with the Patriots, Saints, Vikings and Steelers ranking one through four in Weighted DVOA.

Based on the DVOA numbers, the Patriots/Titans game is the most lopsided while the Saints/Vikings matchup features the second and third best teams in the NFL.

(Offensive Rank, Defensive Rank, Weighted DVOA Rank)

NFC
- Falcons (9th, 18th, 12th) at Eagles (11th, 1st, 7th)

- Saints (2nd, 9th, 2nd) at Vikings (5th, 3rd, 3rd)

AFC
- Titans (21st, 17th, 18th) at Patriots (1st, 22nd, 1st)

- Jaguars (19th, 4th, 10th) at Steelers (3rd, 14th, 4th)

Mike Brown was willing to give Marvin Lewis another chance to lead the Cincinnati Bengals despite the team heading towards a reset.

"You're going to have to start from scratch regardless, so you might as well start from scratch with someone you understand, you know," Lewis said.

"Everybody can always look at what's negative from it, but the only way we can go about it and do it positive is to get back to work and go about it."

Bill Lazor, who was elevated to offensive coordinator after an 0-2 start last season, will remain in the role and get a chance to redesign the NFL's worst offense in the offseason.

Brown decided that Lewis was the best choice, regardless of what has happened in the past 15 years.

"I tell people when you go to a car lot, you know what you're looking for and they're not going to sway you one way or another, that's what you're going to do," Lewis said. "I believe that about [NFL owners]."

The Jimmy Garoppolo trade looks like a win so far for the 49ers with the Patriots only acquiring a second round pick back for him.

Ian Rapoport was asked on The Not Sunday podcast whether he believed the Patriots made the right decision in trading Garoppolo.

“A hundred percent I think they made the right decision making the trade. In terms of them only getting a second-rounder, that happened for two reasons. One, that is basically the market. For a young quarterback who is going to get a contract extension, the market is a second-rounder — the same thing [Matt] Cassel got. Alex Smith was a proven commodity and he got traded for two second-rounders — a little more, but not a ton more. That is just the market. [Belichick] sought out the Niners, wanted to make sure [Garoppolo] was in a great situation, which obviously he is and sacrificed a little bit on draft picks to make sure he was in a good situation.

“Here is the thing about Bill Belichick. He trades a lot, obviously. He talks to everyone, and I am not sure there’s a team he won’t do business with. It helps him if this trade works out for both sides. The Patriots are going to get a second-rounder. It is going to be much cheaper. It might be a quarterback again, but we’ll see. It is definitely going to be much cheaper and it allows them big time flexibility in the draft, which you can do all sorts of fun things, and the Niners got their quarterback of the future. That is a win-win.

"One thing I always understood about Belichick trading is he does not want to win every trade. If you win every trade you start to become like the Atlanta Braves used to be in the early 2000s and the late 1990s. If the Braves wanted to trade you a pitcher, you would run for the hills because you knew something was wrong with him. If Belichick trades, he wants it to be where he is not trying to screw you over. I think he likes when trades are successful for both sides, so that means more people are going to want to do business with you. More possibilities for good trades. I would imagine he’s happy Garoppolo is doing well and that it is a win-win.

“Let’s say they didn’t trade Garoppolo. There were options. They had contract talks with him, tried to sign him to a new deal in the spring. They could have done it. They could have done it, but Jimmy wanted to play, and are you really going to trade Tom Brady for a young quarterback you just don’t know what you have? I don’t see it.”

The NFL has five teams ranking in the top-10 in DVOA on both Offense and Defense at the end of the regular season in the Vikings, Rams, Saints, Steelers and Eagles.

The Chiefs, Cowboys, Chargers, Falcons and Patriots also rank in the top-10 on offense, while the Jaguars, Broncos, Panthers, Ravens and Cardinals rank in the top-10 on defense.