Earlier in the offseason, I took at look at the relative changes in positional value - as a function of the salaries of the top paid players at each position over time - to try to identify trends in the league, both on the defensive and offensive side of the ball.
On offense, both tackle positions were - by a wide margin - the spots that experienced the most dramatic rate of growth over the past decade.
On defense, the interior defensive line experienced the greatest rate of growth, but at the other end of the spectrum, linebacker (like running backs) experienced a steep decline:
No defensive position suffered as much as the running backs did on offense (-43%), in terms of salary growth lost to cap inflation, but the linebackers weren’t terribly far behind.