The National Football League (NFL) is one of the major professional sporting leagues in the United States. Because of its massive popularity, the NFL boasts players who are counted among the richest athletes in America by annual salary and earnings from brand endorsements. A handful of them are among the highest-paid sportspersons in the world.
An NFL contract is usually in nine figures, which may run for an average of around four to five years. In rare cases, the contract period is lesser or more than the average. Irrespective of the period, a high-paying NFL contract virtually guarantees that even a newly signed but highly promising player will end up becoming a multi-millionaire by the time the contract expires. In short, the salary and overall net worth of NFL players are very high, thanks in part to the money that the sport generates.
According to a Forbes report from August 2023, an average NFL team is worth USD 5.1 billion, which was 14 per cent more than the previous year. The Super Bowl, the NFL’s annual league championship game, is one of the most-watched sporting events. Ticket costs at the Super Bowl can be anywhere from USD 950 to USD 9,500 (HKD 7,428 to HKD 74,282).
In fact, according to a 12 February 2024 report by Forbes, the Super Bowl LVIII, or Super Bowl 2024, might become the most-watched Super Bowl ever by viewership and possibly touch the broadcast viewership record set by the 1969 moon landing.
Part of the reason for the high viewership of the 2024 event, as multiple media houses noted, was due to the presence of Taylor Swift at the game, watching her boyfriend Travis Kelce play for the Kansas City Chiefs, which eventually defeated the San Francisco 49ers to lift the championship a second time in a row.
Though Kelce isn’t among the 10 highest-paid NFL players list of 2023 by Forbes (Swift’s cat has a higher net worth than him), his team-mate – Patrick Mahomes — certainly is. Of course, Mahomes backs up his dollars with a performance record that is virtually unmatched for anyone currently in the NFL.
A noteworthy factor is that barring one, all players in the top 10 are quarterbacks, who are technically the generals of their team’s offensive play. In other words, they play in the most significant position in American football.
The richest NFL players of 2023 by salary and off-field pay
Russell Wilson
Total earnings: USD 41 million (HKD 320 million)
Though widely hailed as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Wilson has had two back-to-back forgettable seasons ever since he arrived at the Denver Broncos in 2022 from the Seattle Seahawks. He was signed for a five-year, USD 242.6 million before the start of the 2022 season. Despite having a bad start, he still earned USD 28 million on the field in 2023.
According to ESPN, he is guaranteed to receive USD 39 million in 2024 and USD 37 million in 2025 if he remains on the roster till 17 March 2024, whether or not he plays for the Broncos. This has reportedly led to concerns in the Broncos’ management during his tenure.
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However, the New York Post reported that the Broncos may still retain him. Part of this could be the fact that Wilson was one of the best NFL players for all 11 years at the Seahawks. While on that team, he won nine Pro Bowls and a 2014 Super Bowl title.
Outside of the sport, Wilson earned around USD 13 million off the field. One of his prime sources of revenue is the fashion brand House of LR&C, which he co-founded with his wife, singer-songwriter Ciara. He is also a minority stakeholder in the Major League Soccer (MLS) team Seattle Sounders.
Kyler Murray
Total earnings: USD 42.5 million (HKD 332 million)
Kyler Murray, who plays for the Arizona Cardinals, is one of the four NFL players who enjoy the highest guaranteed salary. He signed a five-year contract with his team for USD 230.5 million in 2022, including a guaranteed USD 189.5 million. In 2023, he earned USD 39 million on-field and USD 3.5 million off from multiple endorsement deals, including those with BodyArmor and Nike.
Dak Prescott
Total earnings: USD 44 million (HKD 344 million)
As one of the richest NFL stars currently active, the Dallas Cowboys quarterback was the record holder for an NFL signing bonus with USD 66 million until Jackson broke it in 2023.
Prescott’s signing bonus, when he agreed to play for the Cowboys in 2021, was part of a four-year, USD 160 million contract. The contract included a guaranteed USD 126 million. He earned around USD 31 million on the field in 2023.
Prescott is currently playing his final season under the contract and has a salary cap of USD 59.4 million — the second-largest in the NFL after Watson’s. This is why there is huge anticipation for the next move by the Dallas Cowboys on his contract.
Irrespective of where he lies in the next season, Prescott earned around USD 13 million from his off-field engagements in 2023. According to Forbes, he enjoys “one of football’s strongest endorsement portfolios” with as many as 15 major brands.
One of his biggest endorsers is the Air Jordan brand. The others include Anheuser-Busch InBev, AT&T, Frito-Lay, PepsiCo and Sleep Number. He has also appeared in commercials for 7-Eleven, Blockchain, Glow, Keurig and Oikos, among others.
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Joe Burrow
Total earnings: USD 45 million (HKD 351 million)
Burrow holds the record for the second-most guaranteed figure in the NFL after Watson, with a pay of USD 219 million out of a contract extension worth USD 275 million. The extension, which was signed in 2023 with the Cincinnati Bengals, wasn’t surprising given that the team began an outstanding run in the NFL since Burrow joined in 2020.
One of the biggest NFL players currently active, his average per year salary is USD 55 million till his contract ends in 2028. Based on permanent pay, however, the quarterback earned around USD 41 million on the field in 2023.
Burrow is hailed by the media for keeping his cool under immense pressure, earning him the nicknames Joe Cool and Joe Brrr, among others. This image of him on the field has also contributed immensely to his reputation off the field.
He is a magnet for major brands such as Bose, Guinness and BodyArmor. He is also a keen investor who has placed his money in breakfast food brand Kodiak, fantasy sports website Fantasy Life and the women’s league named Pro Volleyball Federation. Burrow is also an investor in an Iowa farm bought by a group through athlete-focused investment firm Patricof Co. Forbes estimated that his income off the field was around USD 4 million in 2023.
Deshaun Watson
Total earnings: USD 46.5 million (HKD 363 million)
Quarterback Deshaun Watson joined the Cleveland Browns from the Houston Texans in 2022 for a record five-year USD 230 million contract. Moreover, unlike most other players whose guaranteed money is less than the deal amount, Watson was promised the entire deal as guaranteed pay, which reportedly is the most guaranteed money ever given to a player in the NFL.
What this means is that he is one of the few NFL players who receive their entire contract money as an annual salary. In Watson’s case, the figure is USD 46 million, which he will continue to get till 2026.
Daniel Jones
Total earnings: USD 47.5 million (HKD 371 million)
Despite his on-field reputation as a brilliant quarterback for the New York Giants, Daniel Jones maintains a low profile off the field. His social media use is scarce — there is a gap of six months between his last two Instagram posts, as on 12 February 2024. Thus, his off-field earnings of USD 1.5 million from endorsements of brands such as Hugo Boss and Poland Spring pales as a very small part of his earnings for 2023. His on-field earnings, by comparison, amounted to USD 46 million.
Aaron Rodgers
Total earnings: USD 47.9 million (HKD 374 million)
Forbes estimated that Aaron Rodgers will break the record for career on-field earnings in the NFL held by Tom Brady by the end of 2023. His estimated career earnings of USD 342 would surpass the USD 333 million earned by Brady in his career. According to the estimate, Rodgers will end up as one of the richest NFL players in history with a career on-field gross of USD 418 million by the end of 2025.
Rodgers is a quarterback who played for the Green Bay Packers for 18 seasons before moving to the New York Jets in 2023. He agreed to a pay cut of USD 35 million over a period of two years for the deal. His on-field income for 2023 was USD 36.9 million and his off-field earnings were USD 11 million, the latter of which came from his brand endorsements for Adidas, TaylorMade Golf, State Farm and Zenith Watches, among others.
Nick Bosa
Total earnings: USD 52 million (HKD 406 million)
Bosa plays as a defensive end for the San Francisco 49ers and was the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. He signed a five-year extension with his team in September 2023 for USD 170 million, becoming the highest-paid defensive player in the NFL.
The guaranteed money of USD 122.5 million of the deal also helped him break the record for the highest-paid non-quarterback held by his older brother, pass rusher Joey Bosa, who received a guaranteed USD 102 million from the Chargers in 2020.
Based on his extension, his average annual contract value came to an estimated USD 34 million. In all, he earned USD 51 million from on-field earnings and bonuses. Just about USD 1 million came from endorsements.
Patrick Mahomes
Total earnings: USD 60.5 million (HKD 473 million)
Quarterback Patrick Mahomes was the decisive factor in the thrilling victory that the Kansas City Chiefs clinched over the San Francisco 49ers at the Super Bowl LVIII. He was, therefore, named Super Bowl MVP — his third overall.
“The Kansas City Chiefs are never underdogs, know that,” Mahomes said from the championship podium. No wonder then that he is one of the highest-paid NFL players of all time.
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He is the holder of the largest contract in NFL history — a 10-year extension deal he signed for USD 450 million in 2020. The contract is still the fourth largest in the world of sports, after those of baseball player Shohei Ohtani and footballers Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
The total worth of Mahomes’ deal comes to USD 503 million, including bonuses. His 2023 income includes USD 40.5 million from on-field earnings. His fame also guaranteed almost USD 20 million from long-term endorsement deals with almost 20 brands. These include Hugo Boss, T-Mobile and Walmart. He was also one of the three NFL players featured in the Netflix docuseries Quarterback (2023).
Lamar Jackson
Total earnings: USD 81.5 million (HKD 637 million)
The Baltimore Ravens quarterback is the richest of all NFL players on the circuit for the year 2023 in terms of annual salary.
Much of his income for 2023 came from the on-field contract extension the 26-year-old signed with his team in May 2023. His signing bonus at the time of the five-year extension was USD 72.5 million for 2023. His fully guaranteed base salary was USD 7.5 million, which brought the total for the year to USD 80 million.
Jackson is set to earn even more over the years. According to a breakdown of his contract extension by NBC Sports, he will earn USD 112.5 million through 2024 and 2025, USD 156 million through 2026, USD 208 million through 2027, and USD 260 million through 2028 — the final year of the extension.
For 2023, Jackson also earned around USD 1.5 million from endorsements, licensing, appearances, memorabilia and other business ventures. According to Forbes, his businesses include Florida restaurant Play Action Soulfood and More, personal clothing brand called Era 8, and production house Lamar Jackson Entertainment.
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(All figures under ‘total earnings’ are as of 2023 according to Forbes.)
(Hero images: Patrick Mahomes II/@PatrickMahomes/Twitter; Featured image: Patrick Mahomes II/@patrickmahomes/Instagram)
This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia Singapore
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– Who is the richest NFL player of all time?
There is no concrete information about the richest NFL player of all time. Some unverified reports suggest that the late Jerry Richardson was worth USD 2 billion, making him the richest. Others name former NFL star Tom Brady as the richest with a net worth of over USD 300 million. Forbes states that Aaron Rodgers will have a cumulative net worth of over USD 400 million by 2025, making him one of the richest.
– Which NFL player has the highest net worth?
Several NFL players have a net worth of over USD 100 million, but it is not clear who would be on top of the list. Tom Brady or current player Aaron Rodgers could vie for the position with over USD 300 million net worth each.
