Mahomes, Rodgers, Watson: Top 10 highest-paid NFL quarterbacks

Garoppolo, Goff, Mahomes, Rodgers, Prescott

It goes without saying that quarterback is the most important position in the sport of American Football, after all they are the ones that touch the ball on every play.

A lot of teams can attribute their success purely down to the effect that a quarterback managed to pick up at some point in time, for instance where would the Patriots be if it weren’t for the influence of Tom Brady? 

It’s no surprise then to see that they quite often get insane contracts in order to reflect their importance to a team and how much of the team’s success can often be down to their golden arms. 

Quarterbacks and their pay packets have been in the news this offseason, most notably as a result of the monster contract handed out by the Cleveland Browns to Deshaun Watson after they acquired him from the Houston Texans.

The Browns signed him to a five-year, $230m contract, all of it guaranteed, which makes it the most guaranteed money ever handed out in an NFL deal. The deal came under particular scrutiny due to the off-field issues that have plagued him in recent years.

But whilst it is a record in terms of guaranteed money, where does it stack up with regards to contracts amongst NFL quarterbacks in general?

GiveMeSport finds out as we break down the top ten contracts amongst the signal callers of the NFL:

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Values taken from Spotrac with players ranked in terms of overall value of the contract.

10 – Jared Goff, Detroit Lions, $134m

9 – Jimmy Garoppolo, San Francisco 49ers, $137.5m 

8 – Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos, $140m 

7 – Matt Ryan, Indianapolis Colts, $150m 

6 – Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers, $150.8m

4 – Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams, $160m

4 – Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys, $160m

3 – Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns, $230m

2 – Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills, $258m

1 – Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs, $450m

So interestingly enough, of the top ten highest-paid, only four, Wilson, Rodgers, Stafford and Mahomes, have won Super Bowls as starters, proving that the most money doesn’t always equate to success.

There’s also a pretty big gap between Mahomes at top spot and Allen at number two, but I suppose when you take your team to four straight AFC Championship games, back-to-back Super Bowl appearances and winning it all back in 2020, you kind of deserve to be paid that much.

Just where quarterback contracts are going to go in the future is anybody’s guess, but with a bumper TV deal set to kick in from 2023, they sure aren’t going to be down, and even Mahomes’ contract could end up being dwarfed before too long.

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