A couple of years ago, NFL fans were probably shocked by the staggering contracts that went to quarterbacks.

Brett Favre and Drew Bledsoe, then in New England, each signed 10-year contracts worth a little more than $100 million, but owners and general mangers didn't choke once they saw the numbers. In reality, those headline grabbing deals were four-year deals that paid in the $7.5 million a year range, which seemed manageable to a salary cap that was stuck in the low $70 millions.

	Favre was the first QB to sign a deal worth more than $100 million.

As it turned out, it was preview of coming attractions. The era of the $10 million a year quarterback has arrived and it's not going away. Bledsoe and Favre may have delicately taken the NFL into the $10 million quarterback era, but now, the numbers are tough. Quarterbacks are making $10 million a year cash. That might seem normal in baseball and basketball, but its implication could cause more grinding in NFL front offices as they look ahead.

"The quarterback is the most important position on the field so I think that was inevitable based on the performance of the top player at the top position," Rams president Jay Zgmunt said. "If anybody is going to be the highest paid, it's obviously going to happen at the most important position."

Look at some of the numbers that have been going to quarterbacks of late. Jeff Garcia of the 49ers hit so many escalators based on his Pro Bowl performances that his cash flow for 2002 and 2003 is $20.4 million. Donovan McNabb of the Eagles signed a contract extension late year that pays him $19 million in 2002 and 2003. Over the same period, Peyton Manning of the Colts makes $17.6 million, David Carr of the Texans makes $15.595 million, Joey Harrington of the Lions $14.225 million, Steve McNair of the Titans $13.251 million and on and on.

If you noticed from that opening list, three of those top six -- McNabb, Carr and Harrington -- were deals agreed upon last year. Carr and Harrington are rookies. Manning is in the last year of his contract. What used to be a $6 million position is heading into double digits. It was inevitable.

"It was obvious you were going to have players in the $10 million range," said Manning's agent, Tom Condon. "Part of the reason is the structure of some of the contracts of the top five picks. Those accelerators jump after year number three. Manning, for example, has made $30 million over the past three years of his contract."

It's not that it's a bad thing, but squeezing such big numbers into a fixed salary cap isn't always easy. Look at the Colts. Manning makes $11.3 million this year. His cap number is more than $15 million and the Colts restructured all but Manning's contract and that of wide receiver Marvin Harrison just to get under the cap and to re-sign a few key starters.

What next? It's hard to say. Manning's sense of team play could allow him to be a good guy and sign, let's say, a 10-year deal that pays him $10 million a year cash. To do that, though, would mean he'd be taking a paycut. But let's say he'd do that. Normally, you'd like to guarantee 30 to 40 percent of a contact. That would mean a $30 million to $40 million signing bonus. Yikes.

The Colts can't afford to lose him, so for cash flow purposes, they may just simply franchise him for the next five years. The Colts are negotiating with the mayor about a new stadium because the Colts are near the bottom of the league's revenue list. Handing over a $30 million check to one player is hard. The Colts could simply place the franchise tag on Manning for the next five years, but that would eventually pay him $100 million over the next five years and limit the team's flexibility under the cap.

"Everyone knew once we went to the salary cap that we were in a system of choices," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said. "If you pay a guy, your choices in other areas are going to be limited. That's why the NFL is such a well-balanced league."

A $10 million quarterback in a $75 million cap isn't really any different than when quarterbacks were making $6 million to $6.5 million in a $50 million cap, but it's certainly going to cause more sticker shock. No team begrudges paying $10 million-plus to a top quarterback, but no team can afford to be wrong on a $10 million quarterback.

	“	The quarterback is the most important position on the field so I think that was inevitable based on the performance of the top player at the top position. If anybody is going to be the highest paid, it's obviously going to happen at the most important position.”
		—Rams president Jay Zgmunt

Watch the drama unfolding for this year's draft. Carson Palmer and Byron Leftwich clearly are top five to top 10 choices in this draft. Kyle Boller and Rex Grossman have arms strong enough to challenge for selections as high as 10th.

The Bengals, Cardinals, Bears, Panthers and Ravens are top 10 teams in the draft that could be in the market for taking a quarterback in the first round. But three or four of those teams could pass. It's not the player ratings, it's the financial numbers. Top 10 quarterbacks are 50-50 propositions as far as their success rate. The team that is wrong is in for 100 percent of salary-cap hell.

It took the Chargers a couple of years to recover from their selection of Ryan Leaf.

"Teams are very reluctant to take a gamble on a quarterback high," Hurney said. "There are so many other things associated with quarterbacks. So many high picks haven't worked out that it's scary. But the flip side is that if you pick the right guy, you are set. The price of what you are paying for a top five choice is okay if he's the right guy. But the quarterback components of this coming draft adds an element of mystery to it."

The Bengals face that problem. Though Bengals owner Mike Brown has been criticized for not being able to lure top free agents to Cincinnati for the past few years, he has never feared gambling on a quarterback. Unfortunately, the track level of late hasn't been good. David Klingler and Akili Smith were busts, but the Bengals annually had plenty of cap room to absorb mistakes.

To Browns' credit, he may not shy away from paying the price of a top choice such as Carson Palmer of USC because he and his father, Paul Brown, always believed in acquiring quarterbacks. If anything, the Bengals may have the most courage of any of the teams in the top 10 about taking a quarterback.

Having $10 million quarterbacks will be the next 500-pound gorilla in this salary-cap era. Compared to $20 million shortstops in baseball or $20 million power forwards in the NBA, a $10 million Pro Bowl quarterback doesn't seem all that bad. After all, the NFL is the biggest money maker in sports. Figuring out how to get that number into the cap isn't easy.

Garcia's incredible contract in San Francisco is among the growing examples. He's pulling $10 million cash a year for the past couple of years, and he enters the final year of his deal next year. There is an escalator that raises his salary to the franchise tag number, which is calculated from the top five quarterback cap numbers from the previous year. It could shoot his salary to $11 million plus and his cap number into the $13 million plus area.

Deals struck by Bledsoe, Favre and even McNabb will look like bargains.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.