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Who are the top earners in NFL history?
In the early weeks of the 2024 season, Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott became the highest-paid player in the NFL when he signed a new contract with an average annual value of $60 million.
Prescott’s fresh deal with the four-time Super Bowl champions is the biggest contract in league history, but the 31-year-old signal caller still has some way to go before he catches up with the highest cumulative earners who’ve starred in the NFL down the years.
Tom Brady is the game’s most successful player, racking up an incredible seven Super Bowl rings as well as three Most Valuable Player awards and an NFL record 89,214 passing yards across his 23-year career.
But the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers icon ranks only third in the list of the NFL’s top all-time earners, according to sports finance site Spotrac, with a total salary haul of $332,962,392.
Top of the list is another of the greatest pass masters football has ever seen. Not only does Aaron Rodgers best Brady when it comes to MVP awards with four – although he has six fewer Super Bowl rings than the current Las Vegas Raiders part-owner – he also out-earned the man widely considered the NFL GOAT.
Since he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers with the 24th overall pick in 2005, Rodgers has earned a total of $380,658,010.
Yet with Rodgers currently a free agent and mulling retirement after leaving the New York Jets at the end of last season, the 41-year-old cannot be considered the top earner among active NFL players at this time.
Instead, that distinction belongs to Matthew Stafford. The 37-year-old former Detroit Lion renewed terms with the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, committing to the team he led to the Super Bowl in 2022 for at least another two years. Stafford’s current career salary total stands at $364,313,912 … and counting.
Prescott is all the way back in 11th place on the all-time earnings list, more than $100 million behind Stafford and trailing Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins among active players.
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