Kirk Cousins‘ four-year, $180MM deal with the Falcons this season vaulted him up the list of active career earners. This was by virtue of his $50MM signing bonus, adding to the more than $231MM he earned from the Commanders and (mostly) the Vikings throughout his career. Even under the worst-case scenario, Cousins will still see at least another $50MM come his way via his contract with Atlanta, which would push his career earnings north of $331MM.
While the soon-to-be 36-year-old Cousins will surely see a significant portion of the $80MM worth of unguaranteed money on his contract, he’ll still be hard pressed to catch Aaron Rodgers on the career-earnings list. Rodgers earned more than $306MM during his long tenure in Green Bay, and he’s already made close to $37MM during his one season in New York (mostly via the $35MM signing bonus on his reworked pact).
With at least $40MM of additional guarantees coming his way from the Jets, Rodgers will continue to grow his lead as the highest-earning NFL player of all time. Both Rodgers and Matthew Stafford were able to leap Tom Brady among the NFL’s highest all-time earners over the past year.
With all that said, we’ve listed the 25 active players who have earned the most money in their NFL careers (h/t to OverTheCap.com). While this list is up to date, it doesn’t account for soon-to-realized salaries for the 2024 campaign. This list is also solely focused on NFL cash and does not include off-the-field earnings:
- QB Aaron Rodgers: $343MM
- QB Matthew Stafford: $328MM
- QB Russell Wilson: $305MM
- QB Kirk Cousins: $281MM
- QB Jared Goff: $234MM
- LB Von Miller: $179MM
- QB Joe Flacco: $177MM
- OT Trent Williams: $171MM
- QB Derek Carr: $165MM
- LB Khalil Mack: $162MM
- QB Dak Prescott: $161MM
- DL Aaron Donald: $157MM
- QB Jimmy Garoppolo: $150MM
- DE Calais Campbell: $143MM
- QB Deshaun Watson: $142MM
- QB Patrick Mahomes: $136MM
- DE Joey Bosa: $134MM
- DL Leonard Williams: $134MM
- WR Mike Evans: $132MM
- QB Carson Wentz: $130MM
- WR DeAndre Hopkins: $128MM
- WR Stefon Diggs: $126MM
- DE Cameron Jordan: $126MM
- OT Lane Johnson: $121MM
- DT Chris Jones: $120MM
what a life for jimmy G and his 150 million
Either being a back up (w/ rings thanks Tom!!) or being injured for half the season.
Once you leave mom’s basement you’ll learn about taxes
your hilarious
*you’re. Maybe if your dad comes back, he’ll teach you about grammar.
First name I singled out. If he just hits Emmanuel Sanders….
I feel that to get a true idea of career earnings you need to factor in present value, but I don’t think it would change the rankings a whole lot
Leonard Williams has played in only 2 playoff games. Who is the earnings leader of players who have never appeared in a playoff game?
Roger Goodell
Roger hasn’t appeared in a playoff game because he’s too busy using the game officials to manipulate the game outcomes.
Is there no other NFL news to report on than this.
Not yet. Have patience!
Carson Wentz
Carson freaking Wentz
2nd overall pick, should have won MVP in 2017, and quarterbacked the eventual Super Bowl winners for most of that season. People act like Wentz has always been bad, or that he’s really even so much worse than he actually is, but he hasn’t had an awful career. He’s number 20 on the list of onky active players, it’s not THAT big a deal.
He’s certainly more accomplished than the guy five spots ahead of him…
Wentz had a really bad OL in Washington. I watched him running for his life. Had 2 bad ankles in INDY. I don’t think it was that as much as he was a bad attitude problem, something coaches don’t talk about publicly.
Agreed.
Tom Brady earned a significant amount of money under the table in the form of sweetheart real estate and endorsement deals, but it can’t be called “salary” in the true sense. League rules are meant for the other guys in the Kraft ownership era.
OK, I’m confused, because if the Patriots are experts at getting around league rules, why did Brady end up serving a suspension to start the 2016 season?
It says active leaders.