Why do payment slots exist for each position in the NFL?

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I realize this is an obvious question for most. Why can't a team just have a salary cap and divide up the money how they want? Is this purely for franchise tag purposes?

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I imagine it was to protect the player since it keeps them out of free agency. Therefore, the team couldn't bind the player and pay him a punter's salary to be their star QB or what not.

However, in this case, it ended up working the other way around.

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Any player can be paid any amount, regardless of position.

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Well that isn't technically true