An NFL offseason that doled out a record $12.4 billion in new contracts—a whopping $2 billion beyond the mark set in 2022, according to data tracking by Spotrac—also set or matched the high for average annual contract value at 13 different positions. The football trailblazers include left tackle Tristan Wirfs, poised to make an average of $28.1 million a year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and Detroit Lions right tackle Penei Sewell, who will earn $28 million on average. The Kansas City Chiefs’ Chris Jones lifted the ceiling for defensive tackles to $31.8 million while Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson, at $35 million, is now the top-earning player who is not a quarterback.
It’s a long list of names, and a whole lot of cash. But this season, even a record payday isn’t enough to guarantee a spot on the list of the NFL’s 10 highest-paid players.
That honor is reserved for nine star quarterbacks—led by the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff with an estimated $85.6 million, including his playing contract, endorsements and other business endeavors—plus Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, who comes in at No. 7 with an estimated $52 million.
Combined, the top 10 players are set to collect $644 million in the 2024 league year (before taxes and agents’ fees), demolishing the record of $508 million set last year. The total is more than twice what the top 10 took home just seven years ago, when 2017’s list collectively earned $296 million. And the $47 million cutoff for this year’s top 10 is up 15% from 2023’s record $41 million.
For the third year in a row, the list includes at least nine quarterbacks, and there have been no fewer than seven since 2018. Kelce is the lone aberration thanks to a monstrous $35 million in estimated off-field income, the best mark in the 15-year history of Forbes’ ranking by any player not named Tom Brady. (In each of his final two years with the Buccaneers, Brady hauled in at least $44 million off the field, according to Forbes estimates.) The largest chunk of Kelce’s money will come from the New Heights podcast he co-hosts with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce, after they struck a three-year deal with Amazon’s Wondery in August for a minimum of $105 million over three years, according to a person with knowledge of the agreement.
That abruptly ends a one-year reign by Travis Kelce’s Chiefs teammate Patrick Mahomes as football’s off-field king. But Mahomes, who has lucrative endorsement deals including Adidas, State Farm and Subway, is still head and shoulder pads above the rest of the league with an estimated $25 million in off-field earnings. No other player in the top 10 for total earnings expects to make more than $10 million away from the game this year, according to Forbes estimates.
The real boost to NFL players’ pay is coming on the field as teams’ revenue soars, up 8% year over year to an average of $630 million last season, according to Forbes estimates. Because the league’s collective bargaining agreement guarantees players at least 48% of all revenue, those increases are driving up the salary cap—to $255.4 million this season, a $30 million increase over 2023—and giving front offices more money to spend. Just look at wide receiver, where the five top contracts ever as measured by average annual value—and 10 of the top 15 for the position—were signed within the last six months, according to Spotrac tracking.
Of course, no matter a contract’s average annual value, what an NFL player actually receives in any 12-month span can vary widely. For instance, Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love got a record $75 million........