The 50 Most Overpaid Athletes of 2013
From Gilbert Arenas to Alex Rodriguez.
Image via Complex Original
Before we start, one obvious admission: all athletes are overpaid. Sure, they work more than 40 hours a week and put their bodies and minds through more than the averaged 9-5er, but you know who else does that? Soldiers, teachers, doctors, and several other professionals. However, given the disparity between some athletes’ salaries, it’s clear that some are way more overpaid than others.
Whether it’s cashing in on a career year, capitalizing on the stupidity of a hapless general manager, or simply having their talent grossly misread, many players get humongous paydays and immediately prove that they did not deserve them. It happens across all sports and salary ranges, from the outrageously huge salary of Alex Rodrgiuez to the lower (but equally ridiculous) amount paid to Andris Biedrins. While there are many candidates to choose from across every professional team sport, these are the 50 Most Overpaid Athletes of 2013.
*Note that the “Team” references the team paying the majority of the player’s salary in 2013-14.
RELATED: 25 Facts About Pro Athlete Salaries That'll Turn You Into a Hater
50. Kobe Bryant
Sport: Basketball
Team: Los Angeles Lakers
2013-14 salary: $30,453,000
Key stats: 54,031 total career minutes played
Salary source
This may be heresy, but it's true; $30 million is way too much for any NBA player today, given the current CBA. Kobe is by far the highest-paid player in the league (Dirk comes in second at $22M), and while he's also one of the league's best, it's hard to justify having one player eat up more than half of your team's cap space. The fact that Kobe is going to be 35 at the start of the season, has played the 12th-most regular season minutes in NBA history, and is coming off an Achilles' tendon tear that typically knocks players out for a full season are all factors that make it apparent why the Lakers had to at least consider amnestying their franchise player. It's nothing personal against the Mamba or what he's done in the past, but we just can't see him living up to that huge salary this year.
49. Richard Jefferson
Sport: Basketball
Team: Utah Jazz
2013-14 Salary: $11,046,000
Key Stats: 10.1 MPG, 3.1 PPG, 1.5 RPG in 2012-13
Salary Source
Jefferson was a star with the New Jersey Nets, but those days are long behind him as he has now become a shell of the athletic leaper he was in his 20s. That didn't stop the normally-frugal Spurs from signing him to a four-year, $39 million contract during the 2010 offseason after Jefferson had made the seemingly insane decision to opt out of the remaining one-year and $15.2 million on his previous deal. He's now been traded twice since re-signing with San Antonio, and demonstrated over the last two seasons that he is finished as a productive, reliable rotation player. That can't make Utah feel good, as the Jazz are on the hook for Jefferson both this year and next year, when he gets a slight raise to $11 million.
48. Derek Jeter
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Yankees
2013-14 salary: $17,000,000
Key stats: 4 ABs in 2013
Salary source
Derek Jeter will go down as one of the best baseball players of all time, period. He also had a terrific offensive season in 2012, posting a .316 batting average some of the best all-around totals at the plate of his career. However, it's 2013 now. Jeter has managed to play all of four games this season as he recovers from a broken ankle. At 39 years old, the body doesn't bounce back like it once did, and to expect him to instantly regain his stroke at the plate seems foolish at best. While there's still a chance he could be productive for the Yankees this season, paying $17 million for a question mark is just not good business.
47. Christian Ehrhoff
Sport: Hockey
Team: Buffalo Sabres
2013-14 salary: $4,000,000
Key stats: 52 points since signing contract
Salary source
Christian Ehrhoff is a big defenseman who specializes in helping support the attack, and his excellent skating and shooting abilities were what motivated the Buffalo Sabres to ink him to a front-loaded 10-year, $40 million contract in the 2011 offseason. His first two seasons in Buffalo have been massive disappointments. Not only has he failed to produce on nearly the same level as he did previously with the Canucks and Sharks, but the Sabres have failed to qualify for the playoffs in either season. While Ehrhoff's salary becomes more palatable each year, Buffalo will need more production from him if they hope to make it back to the postseason.
46. Danny Granger
Sport: Basketball
Team: Indiana Pacers
2013-14 salary: $14,021,788
Key stats: 5 G, 0 GS in 2012-13
Salary source
Somewhat lost in the hoopla of the Indiana Pacers' run to the Eastern Conference Finals last season was the fact that they did it all without Danny Granger, who even a year earlier was considered the team's best player. The emergence of Paul George and repeated injuries to Granger have made the 2009 All-Star a forgotten man on this rising team. In October of 2008, Granger signed a five-year, $60 million extension that for a couple years at least looked like a steal, but now Granger's role with the team is in doubt given his serious knee surgery last season, George, and Indiana's success without him.
45. Justin Morneau
Sport: Baseball
Team: Minnesota Twins
2013-14 Salary: $15,000,000
Key stats: .256 BA, 30 HR since suffering concussion in 2010
Salary source
From 2006 to the first half of 2010, Justin Morneau was an absolute force in the American League. He won the MVP in 2006, finished second in 2008, and was an All-Star four of those years. In the 2008 offseason, he was rewarded with a six-year, $80 million contract extension that (at the time) made him the highest-paid player in Twins history. However, a concussion suffered in July of 2010 followed by a host of injuries in 2011 would derail his career to the degree that Morneau no longer remotely resembles the star everyone remembers. While he is still decent, he is not even close to a $13 million per year player.
44. Alfonso Soriano
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Yankees
2013-14 salary: $19,000,000
Key stats: .287 OBP (15 walks in 484 PA) in 2013
Salary source
The Cubs were destined to see diminishing returns on Soriano's deal as the outfielder got older, and at 37 he now is hitting at a level dramatically below what he's getting paid to produce. While he's never had a discerning batting eye, Soriano has posted an anemic .287 OBP this season that is not only a career-low, but was also the eighth-worst in the National League among qualified hitters before he was traded to the Yankees. He'll now be counted upon to hit in the middle of the Yankees' order, a dubious proposition given his lack of production so far.
43. Rick DiPietro
Sport: Hockey
Team: New York Islanders
2013-14 salary: $4,500,000
Key stats: 2.93 GAA, .893 save percentage in AHL in 2012-13
Salary source
Perhaps the most legendary of NHL cautionary tales, DiPietro was the No. 1 overall pick in 2000 by the New York Islanders and in 2006 signed a 15-year, $67.5 million contract extension. He had a difficult time remaining healthy after that, and between injuries and ineffectiveness spent nearly as much time in the minor leagues as he did in the NHL during the 2007-08 to 2012-13 seasons. He was waived by the Islanders in February and sent to the AHL, where he became the most expensive minor league goaltender in recent memory. He finished out the final 18 games of the regular season there, and a few weeks ago was placed on unconditional waivers by the Islanders.
42. Justin Tuck
Sport: Football
Team: New York Giants
2013-14 salary: $6,150,000
Key stats: Averaged 4.5 sacks and 42 tackles in 2011 and 2012, missing five games
Salary source
You may see Justin Tuck on TV a lot in ads for Subway, but the Giants' defensive end has been far from a star on the field in recent years. After rising to fame alongside his teammates on the G-Men's defensive line, Tuck has seen his play drop off dramatically in recent years. After making two Pro Bowls and averaging 10 sacks and 66 tackles per season from 2007 to 2010, Tuck has averaged just 4.5 sacks and 42 tackles in the previous two years while also battling various injuries. To justify his salary and status as a leader on the Giants, he'll need to rediscover his old performance level in 2013.
41. Samir Nasri
Sport: Soccer
Team: Manchester City
2013-14 salary: £170,000 per week
Key stats: 5 goals in 38 games in 2012-13
Salary source
There have been fewer footballers on the planet more inconsistent than Samir Nasri. After an excellent first season with Manchester City in which he helped his team to the EPL title, his performance plummeted last season to the point that manager Roberto Mancini told reporters he wanted to punch the Frenchman. In EPL play, Nasri went without a goal over an eight-month stretch from October to April and finished the season with just two goals in league play. It certainly was not quite what they were looking for, and a major reason why City finished 11 points behind champions Manchester United and also lost in the Champions League group stage.
40. David Harris
Sport: Football
Team: New York Jets
2013-14 salary: $13,000,000
Key stats: 8th-most missed tackles of any LB in 2012
Salary Source
The Jets made a shrewd move in drafting the Michigan man in the second round of the 2007 Draft, and he quickly repaid them by becoming a starter at inside linebacker during his rookie season. The Jets made him the highest-paid inside linebacker in NFL history in the 2011 offseason, guaranteeing $29.5 million of Harris' four-year, $36 million contract. While he may be paid like the best, Harris showed in 2012 that he was not among the league's elite ILBs. According to ProFootballFocus.com, Harris was 21st in run stop percentage and 22nd in tackling efficiency among all starting inside linebackers, not atrocious but also not worthy of the top salary in the game.
39. Ilya Bryzgalov
Sport: Hockey
Team: Philadelphia Flyers
2013-14 salary: $8,000,000
Key stats: 2.97 GAA, .900 save percentage in 2012-13
Salary source
Goaltenders can be a volatile commodity in hockey, so making a long-term commitment to one can be a very risky proposition. The Flyers learned that the hard way with Ilya Bryzgalov, whom they signed to a nine-year, $51 million contract prior to the 2011-12 season to shore up what had been an area of need for them. After playing in just 59 games in his debut season and going through several prolonged slumps, he followed that up with an even worse year in 2012-13 as Bryzgalov surrendered a career-worst 2.79 goals per game and posted a career-worst .900 save percentage. He was so bad that the Flyers bought out the remaining seven years of his contract a few weeks ago.
38. LaMarr Woodley
Sport: Football
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
2013-14 salary: $9,190,000
Key stats: Career lows in 2012 in sacks and tackles (since becoming a starter)
Salary source
Woodley was an absolute beast for the Steelers from 2008 to 2010, highlighted by his key role in the Super Bowl-winning defense of 2008 and being named to the 2009 Pro Bowl. In 2011 he had another fine year (even recording 7.5 sacks during a four-week stretch in which James Harrison was suspended), but was only able to play in 10 games due to a hamstring injury. Last season, his performance took a stunning dip as Woodley managed just four sacks and 38 tackles in 13 games, contributing greatly to the Steelers' disappointing 8-8 season.
37. Samuel Eto'o
Sport: Soccer
Team: Anzhi Makhachkala
2013-14 salary: € 20,500,000
Key stats: 20 goals in 42 games
Salary source
There's no doubting that Samuel Eto'o is one of the finest strikers in the entire world. But is he the best player on the planet as well, a talent superior to Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi? Not a chance. The former Barcelona and Inter Milan man is nevertheless the highest-paid footballer on Earth, with his Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala footing the bill in hopes of becoming a world super power. The problem, though, is that they haven't even managed to win their own league yet with Eto'o in the fold; they finished 5th in 2011-12 and 3rd in 2012-13. They did, however, reach the quarterfinals of last year's Europa League and will be in the tournament again this year.
36. Mario Williams
Sport: Football
Team: Buffalo Bills
2013-14 salary: $16,000,000
Key stats: 10.5 sacks in 2012
Salary source
The Buffalo Bills undoubtedly paid a heavy tax to get Mario Williams simply because of their geographic location and frequent status as AFC East bottom feeders. But this was a bit much. In the 2011 offseason, the Bills handed Williams a six-year, $100 million contract with a whopping $50 million guaranteed, the largest contract for a defensive player in the history of the NFL. While Williams put up solid numbers his debut season (46 tackles, 10.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles), his pass rushing numbers were only good enough to tie him for 17th place overall. In 2013, the Bills will expect more out of the richest defender in history.
35. Josh Hamilton
Sport: Baseball
Team: Los Angeles Angels
2013-14 Salary: $17,400,000
Key Stats: .226 BA, .283 OBP, .702 OPS in 2013
Salary source
The redemption of Josh Hamilton is one of the great sports stories of recent memory. His battle back from addiction to realize his potential and ultimately cash in on it is certainly inspiring. However, the obscene amount of money the Angels gave him simply does not gibe with the production they can expect. At 32 years old, Hamilton has probably already seen his best days on the field; his 2013 numbers (.226 average, career-worst .702 OPS) indicate a player already in decline. Throw in the fact that he is a huge injury risk having really only played one full season in his MLB career, and this contract is already looking dubious at best despite being in just its first year.
34. Jayson Werth
Sport: Baseball
Team: Washington Nationals
2013-14 salary: $16,571,429
Key stats: .265 BA, .784 OPS, 40 HR since signing contract
Salary source
The Nationals were desperate to make a splash in free agency heading into the 2010-11 offseason, so they threw an absurd seven-year, $126 million offer at Werth, a player coming off a career year where he set personal bests in almost every offensive category. With a contract that escalates in value to over $20 million per season after this year, 2013 might well be the best value the Nats get from their oft-injured right fielder.
Unfortunately, his lack of production has been a major reason why his offensively-challenged team still sits four games below .500. And although, a recent power surge saw him hit seven home runs between July 9 and 24, he also spent the entire month of May on the DL.
33. Troy Polamalu
Sport: Football
Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
2013-14 Salary: $10,137,500
Key Stats: 7 games played, 1 INT in 2012
Salary Source
On reputation alone, Troy Polamalu still intimidates quarterbacks and receivers across the NFL. He's a future Hall of Famer and a living legend, but he's also vastly overpaid given what he can now contribute at age 32. He missed significant time in 2012, getting on the field for just seven games and recording only one interception and 34 total tackles. The combination of salary and signing bonus from his four-year, $36.5 million deal means that he'll cost his team over $10 million in 2013 despite there being no guarantee he'll be on the field, or effective even if he does make it out there. It's not a good situation for Pittsburgh, especially considering how they'll be looking to rebound after such a disappointing 2012.
32. Zach Miller
Sport: Football
Team: Seattle Seahawks
2013-14 salary: $11,000,000
Key stats: 63 receptions, 629 yards, 3 TD in two seasons in Seattle
Salary source
When the Seattle Seahawks inked Zach Miller to a five-year, $34 million contract (with $17 million guaranteed) in the 2011 offseason, it certainly turned a lot of heads around the league. Miller was 25, had just made his first Pro Bowl, and was coming off of consecutive seasons of 60-plus catches, so he did look like a player on the rise, and coach Pete Carroll assured everyone that Miller would be a huge part of the offense. Woops. Miller caught just 25 passes in 2011, following that up with a slightly-better 38 grabs in 2012. While he did have a strong 2012 postseason (12 catches for 190 yards and a touchdown in two games), he'll need to do a lot more this season to prove himself a worthwhile investment.
31. Rudy Gay
Sport: Basketball
Team: Toronto Raptors
2013-14 salary: $17,888,932
Key stats: .416 FG% (career low) in 2012-13
Salary source
Perhaps the most overrated player in the NBA, Gay is paid like one of the league's best despite never making an All-NBA or All-Star team. While it certainly can't be blamed on Gay that he got an $82 million, five-year deal from the Grizzlies in the free agent-crazy summer of 2010, his relative lack of efficiency makes it hard to justify his exorbitant salary. He'll be the 14th-highest paid player in the NBA in 2013-14 (ahead of the likes of Derrick Rose and Kevin Love, among others), and holds a crazy $19.3 million player option for 2014-15 as well.
30. Santonio Holmes
Sport: Football
Team: New York Jets
2013-14 salary: $9,000,000.00
Key stats: Averaged 41 receptions and 557 yards in three years with Jets
Salary source
While he may get paid like a No. 1 receiver, Santonio Holmes has yet to live up to the five-year, $45 million contract the Jets handed him during the 2011 offseason. Since landing the extension, Holmes put up an OK (at best) 51-catch, 654-yard season in 2011 and followed that up by going out for the year after just four games in 2012. While it was Holmes' first major injury of his career, it only adds to the concern that the former Ohio State Buckeye will be unable to produce on the level of the game's highest-paid wideouts.
29. Hedo Türkoğlu
Sport: Basketball
Team: Orlando Magic
2013-14 salary: $12,000,000
Key stats: 10.6 PPG since signing contract, 11 GP in 2012-13
Salary source
A strong performance in the Orlando Magic's run to the 2009 NBA Finals yielded Turkoglu a fat contract offer from the Toronto Raptors, who acquired him via sign-and-trade on a five-year, $52.8 million deal. It's fair to say he and Toronto didn't mix; he lasted just one painful season north of the border before being shipped to Phoenix for 25 games and then being redirected back to Orlando, where he has continued to flounder despite being paid like a key scorer. In February, he was suspended by the league for testing positive for a banned substance, and the Magic are now reportedly trying to buy out the remainder of his contract.
28. Tony Romo
Sport: Football
Team: Dallas Cowboys
2013-14 salary: $18,000,000
Key stats: 19 INTs in 2013
Salary source
While there are fewer quarterbacks in history more picked apart than Tony Romo, the Dallas Cowboy certainly does have a way of bringing a lot of attention upon himself. He is a classic example of quarterbacks who put up terrific stats (a career-best 4,903 passing yards last season) but still fall short at the worst times (his 218-yard, 3 INT performance with a trip to the playoffs on the line against Washington in Week 17 last year). He's compensated like one of the best QBs in the game, and yet time and again proves that he is simply never going to be in that top tier alongside Brees, Brady, the Mannings, Rodgers, et al.
27. Ben Gordon
Sport: Basketball
Team: Charlotte Bobcats
2013-14 salary: $13,200,000
Key stats: 12.0 PPG since signing contract, 20.8 MPG (0 GS) in 2012-13
Salary source
It's not Gordon's fault that the Pistons had a ton of cap space and elected to hand him a five-year, $55 million contract prior to the 2009-10 season. It actually looked reasonable at the time, considering the shooting guard was coming off a season in which he averaged over 20 points per game and shot 41 percent from three-point land. However, since signing that deal, he's been an atrocity. Things have gotten so bad that he can't even get into the starting lineup for the Bobcats, instead coming off the bench as a sixth man and playing barely over 20 minutes per game.
26. Kaka
Sport: Soccer
Team: Real Madrid
2013-14 salary: £141,000 per week
Key stats: 3 goals in 19 games in 2013
Salary source
When Florentino Perez was elected to his second presidency of Real Madrid in the summer of 2009, he immediately sought to reinstate his policy of importing "Galácticos" to make his star-studded team the envy of the world. His first move was to secure the transfer of Kaka and make the Brazilian midfielder one of the world's highest-paid players. At the time, it seemed like a good move. The only problem is, Kaka can barely get on the field. A combination of injuries and ineffectiveness have severely limited his game, and with two years left on his contract Kaka is one of the most expensive backups in the world.
25. Josh Beckett
Sport: Baseball
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
2013-14 salary: $17,000,000
Key stats: 8 GS, 0-5, 5.19 ERA in 2013
Salary source
This former World Series MVP has battled injury problems throughout his career, which makes it increasingly strange why the Dodgers would have agreed to assume the full value of his contract when acquiring Beckett from Boston last August. The injuries came back in full force this year, as Beckett was limited to eight poor starts before being shut down with a groin strain in mid-May. When he began to have nerve problems in his pitching hand, he wondered if he ever would be able to pitch again. While it does look like he'll be able to return next season (the final year of his contract), the way he's been going he'll be lucky to just be a league average pitcher.
24. Sidney Rice
Sport: Football
Team: Seattle Seahawks
2013-14 salary: $9,700,000
Key stats: 50 receptions, 748 yards in 2012
Salary source
The general philosophy with free agents is that when pursuing a player you shouldn't pay for a career year. The Seattle Seahawks clearly never got that memo. After hauling in 83 passes for 1,312 yards and eight touchdowns in 2009, Sidney Rice looked like one of the league's elite receivers heading into 2010. He struggled with injuries, playing in only six games and seemingly costing himself a shot at a huge payday; that still didn't stop the Seahawks from handing him a five-year, $41 million contract with $18 million guaranteed following that injury-plagued effort, though. After playing in just nine games during 2011, Rice managed to stay on the field last year but certainly did not look like someone deserving of one of the top wide receiver contracts in the NFL.
23. Vernon Wells
Sport: Baseball
Team: Los Angeles Angels
2013-14 salary: $24,642,857
Key stats: .234 BA, 21 HR, 67 RBI combined in 2012 and 2013
Salary source
Vernon Wells has had a nice career, no doubt about it. It's been up and down at times, sure, but most years you can pencil him in for 25 home runs and 80 to 90 RBI. Now 34 years old, Wells has probably reached his peak and should probably be transitioning into a role as a platoon player. Should a declining platoon player be making $21 million per season? What about getting the same amount next year? That's exactly what Wells is owed over the next two seasons thanks to the seven-year, $126 million backloaded contract he signed as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays in 2006. Fortunately, the Yankees (his current team) are having almost half the bill footed by Wells' former team (the Angels), so he is only 50 percent of the drain he could be.
22. Darren McFadden
Sport: Football
Team: Oakland Raiders
2013-14 salary: $9,685,084
Key stats: 12 games played, 3.3 yards per carry in 2012
Salary source
DMC hasn't done very much running in recent years, as the Raiders' running back has spent at least three games in each of his five professional seasons on the sideline due to injury. While it's hard for anyone to live up to the massive rookie deals handed out in the late 2000s, McFadden is yet another tale of a team simply not getting its money's worth. After a breakout 2010 campaign, the former Arkansas Razorback combined to play in just 19 games over the next two seasons, accumulating just six total rushing touchdowns and averaging a career-low 3.3 yards per carry in 2012.
21. Fernando Torres
Sport: Soccer
Team: Chelsea
2013-14 salary: £200,000 per week
Key stats: 15 goals in 82 EPL games since signing contract
Salary source
It's simply amazing how a player like Torres can go from being such a game-changer with Liverpool to an also-ran (at best) for Chelsea. This move was a disaster from the start, as the Spaniard scored only one goal in his entire 2010-11 debut season for the Blues. While he has had some modest success over his last two seasons (six and eight goals, respectively), the output has not even come close to matching the amount of money Chelsea has invested in the erratic striker. With moments like this, it's no wonder Chelsea fans have grown weary of him.
20. Tim Lincecum
Sport: Baseball
Team: San Francisco Giants
2013-14 salary: $22,250,000
Key stats: 15-26, 4.95 ERA in 2012 and 2013
Salary source
Lincecum's success always felt like a ticking time bomb. A 5'10", 170-pound flamethrower just doesn't make sense physiologically, and after back-to-back Cy Young awards in 2008 and 2009 it looks like Lincecum's brief run as a top starter may be up. Since signing a two-year, $40.5 million deal prior to the 2012 season, Lincecum has been a completely different pitcher. He averaged a 2.98 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in his first five seasons (155 starts), but over the previous two he has plummeted to a 4.95 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP (54 starts). He was even demoted to the bullpen during the Giants' World Series run in 2012, a dramatic fall from grace for "The Freak."
19. Emeka Okafor
Sport: Basketball
Team: Washington Wizards
2013-14 salary: $14,544,687
Key stats: 9.7 PPG, .477 FG% in 2012-13
Salary source
Remember the Okafor vs. Dwight Howard debate leading up to the 2004 Draft? After a nice four-year run in Charlotte to start his career, the Bobcats rewarded Okafor with a six-year, $72 million extension that made him the highest-paid player in franchise history. His play has tailed off ever since, and he was shipped to New Orleans prior to 2009-10 and then on to Washington before last season. With the center recording career lows in points per game and field goal percentage in 2012-13, he continued in his quest to make his expiring deal (the 25th-highest salary in the league) the most tantalizing trade chip available.
18. Chris Johnson
Sport: Football
Team: Tennessee Titans
2013-14 salary: $12,000,000
Key stats: 0 TDs through six games in 2013, 6 rushing TDs all season
Salary source
Does anyone even refer to this guy as CJ2K anymore? Since his epic 2,000-yard season in 2009, Johnson has been a massive disappointment. He has managed to stay healthy and break the 1,000-yard mark each season, but he hasn't done it terribly efficiently; his YPC average has yet to exceed 4.5 since 2009, and last year he rushed for 24 yards or fewer in four of the Titans' first five games and didn't score his first touchdown until their seventh. Considering he is the second-highest paid running back in the league, he needs to dramatically improve his consistency.
17. Andris Biedrins
Sport: Basketball
Team: Utah Jazz
2013-14 salary: $9,000,000
Key stats: 17.7 MPG, 2.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, .244 FT percentage from 2010-11 through 2012-13
Salary source
Biedrins is one of the most abysmal free throw shooters in NBA history, with only Chris Dudley and Ben Wallace shooting a worse percentage than Biedrins' .503 career mark. Despite these struggles, he was efficient enough from the floor that the Warriors rewarded the center with a six-year contract worth $54 million in the 2008 offseason. After a decent (if injury-plagued) 2009-10 season, Biedrins has totally fallen off a cliff. He has averaged 2.9 points and 5.3 rebounds in 17.7 minutes per game in the four years since being extended, and has yet to stay healthy for a full season. He was bad enough that this offseason the Warriors just gave him to Utah, simply because the Jazz needed his salary to meet the NBA's salary cap floor.
16. Mark Teixeira
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Yankees
2013-14 salary: $23,125,000
Key stats: .249 BA (2010-13), 24 HR in 2012 (career low for full season)
Salary source
After a promising start to his eight-year, $180 million deal with the Yankees, things have really turned sour for the slugging first baseman. He finished second in AL MVP voting in 2009, but posted truly horrible numbers as the Yankees won the World Series despite his lackluster performance. The last two years have been incredibly disappointing, as he has played a combined 138 games and is now out for the season due to a wrist injury. His OPS has steadily fallen from .948 in 2009 to .807 in 2012 and .609 in the 15 games in which he played in 2013. With three years to go at $22.5 million per season, the Yankees will be hard-pressed to extricate themselves from Teixeira's increasingly horrible-looking contract.
15. Brad Richards
Sport: Hockey
Team: New York Rangers
2013-14 salary: $9,000,000
Key stats: 11 G, 23 A (34 pts) in 2012-13
Salary source
The Rangers put a lot of faith in Brad Richards when signing him to a nine-year, $58.5 million deal. They were banking on the fact that the center could be the guy who averaged 26 goals and 58 assists (84 points) during his last two years with the Dallas Stars. So they gave him a hugely front-loaded contract that paid him $12 million the first two seasons and will net him a total of $9 million in 2013-14. If he were one of the most productive players in the league, that would be one thing, but with just 34 points last season he finished tied for 53rd in the NHL.
14. Philip Rivers
Sport: Football
Team: San Diego Chargers
2013-14 salary: $17,110,000
Key stats: 47 turnovers over last two seasons
Salary source
The 2012 season was a dark time for the San Diego Chargers, and especially their quarterback. Rivers endured what might have been his worst year as a pro, stuck behind a porous offensive line that forced him to take 49 sacks and 70 additional hits. His QBR of 40.57 ranked him behind luminaries such as Blaine Gabbert and Ryan Fitzpatrick, and was fifth-worst overall in the NFL. In addition to throwing 15 interceptions (tied for a career high), he fumbled the ball a staggering 15 times, the highest total in the NFL and a byproduct of how many hits he took.
13. BJ Upton
Sport: Baseball
Team: Atlanta Braves
2013-14 salary: $13,050,000
Key stats: .177 BA, .565 OPS, 102 SO in 277 ABs in 2013
Salary source
Atlanta made a lot of headlines when they united the Upton brothers in their outfield this season. To thank his new employer, BJ has responded with one of the worst seasons ever by a professional hitter. He ranks dead last among MLB qualifiers in batting average and ranks second-to-last in OPS and third-to-last in WAR. The only hitter perhaps more inept than Upton this year is the White Sox's Jeff Keppinger. The difference between the two is that Keppinger will be making $3.5 million, or about 27 percent of Upton's salary, and is a light-hitting second baseman not relied upon for his offense.
12. Carl Crawford
Sport: Baseball
Team: Los Angeles Dodgers
2013-14 salary: $20,857,143
Key stats: .283 BA, 16 RBI in 258 PA this season
Salary source
When he was signed by the Boston Red Sox in the 2010-11 offseason, Crawford was supposed to give his new team a lethal bat atop their lineup after wreaking havoc on the Sox for many years as a Tampa Bay Ray. After two miserable, injury-marred seasons in Boston, though, Crawford was shipped to L.A. in last August's blockbuster trade with the Dodgers. Despite being the team's leadoff man on opening day, it's been a bumpy first season out west for the left fielder; he missed the entire month of June due to injury, and has since seen his playing time cut thanks to the emergence of Yasiel Puig.
11. Brandon Roy
Sport: Basketball
Team: Portland Trail Blazers
2013-14 salary: $17,779,458
Key stats: 117 total games played after signing extension in 2009
Salary source
In early August of 2009, the Trail Blazers extended Roy with a four-year max contract that had a player option for a fifth year. By April of 2010, his knees starting acting up. By December of 2010, he had to shut himself down for over two months to have surgery and heal. Less than a year after that, during training camp, Roy announced that he had no cartilage left in his knees and had to retire. After an ill-fated comeback attempt with Minnesota last season, the once-brilliant scorer hung it up for good in May 2013. Portland is still paying for this stunning collapse, forking over almost $18 million per season for their fallen star.
10. Joe Johnson
Sport: Basketball
Team: Brooklyn Nets
2013-14 salary: $21,466,718
Key stats: 16.3 PPG, .423 FG% in 2012 (worst since 2002-03)
Salary source
One of the biggest winners of the summer of 2010 and all the LeBron "Decision" madness was the Atlanta Hawks. Why? Because with everything else going on, people didn't seem to notice that they handed Joe Johnson one of the worst contracts in league history. Johnson is certainly a good player, but was it really worth paying him like a franchise cornerstone when he had never taken a team past the second round of the playoffs? He's Brooklyn's problem now, and we're pretty sure paying a guy $65-plus million over the next three seasons to average 16 points per game won't make Mikhail Prokhorov too happy.
9. Ryan Howard
Sport: Baseball
Team: Philadelphia Phillies
2013-14 salary: $20,000,000
Key stats: 151 G, .244 BA, 25 HR combined between 2012 and 2013
Salary source
Once one of the game's most feared sluggers, Howard has become a shell of himself in recent years. Beleaguered by injuries and horrific numbers against left-handed pitching, the Phillies' first baseman has become basically a platoon player. After struggling upon his return from a torn Achilles in early July of 2012, Howard again was bitten by the injury bug almost exactly a year later as he tore his meniscus and was declared out for six to eight weeks.
8. Jason Bay
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Mets
2013-14 salary: $18,125,000
Key stats: 37 HR, 144 RBI in four seasons since signing contract
Salary source
Quick trivia question: Who is the Mets' highest-paid position player? Nope, it's not David Wright; the answer is: Jason Bay. After a strong 2009 season with the Red Sox, Bay agreed to a four-year, $66 million deal with the Mets that also included a vesting option for a fifth year. The contract was an unequivocal disaster right from the start; the outfielder was never healthy in New York, playing 95, 123, and 70 games in his three seasons there before he was released in the 2012 offseason. He signed with Seattle, platooning in the outfield until being designated for assignment less than a week ago. He's still getting paid, though, so don't worry about his next meal.
7. Johan Santana
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Mets
2013-14 salary: $25,500,000.
Key stats: One season of 29 GS, 4.85 ERA in 2012, 0 GS in 2011 and 2013
Salary source
It was going to be tough for Johan Santana to live up to his contract with the Mets even if he did stay healthy the entire time. Six years and $137.5 million is quite the commitment, after all. At the time, though, chances are good the Mets weren't thinking that Santana would only be truly healthy for one year, and that he just straight up wouldn't pitch two of the six seasons they signed him for. Despite throwing the first no-hitter in Mets history in 2012, Santana has been one of the biggest free agent disasters ever in MLB. In 2011 and 2013 alone (when he missed full seasons with injuries), he cashed over $46 million in checks just to sit around and rehab.
6. Albert Pujols
Sport: Baseball
Team: Los Angeles Angels
2013-14 salary: $16,000,000
Key stats: .285 BA, .343 OBP, .516 SLG, 30 HR (all career lows) in 2012
Salary source
It's probably not a good sign for the Angels that 1) Pujols is on this list in year two of a 10-year contract and 2) his salary jumps to $23 million next year and goes up by $1 million every year after that. Pujols is still undoubtedly a very good player, a guy whom the Angels can trust in the middle of their lineup despite his decline in productivity. The problem, of course, is that he has been handed a contract that pays him to be more than above average. He's posting a brutal .767 OPS this season, a number that ranks him 45th in the American League, and now he might be out for the rest of the year due to a foot injury.
5. Mark Sanchez
Sport: Football
Team: New York Jets
2013-14 salary: $12,853,125
Key stats: 23.37 QBR in 2013, last in NFL
Salary source
There may be no more universally mocked quarterback than Sanchez, whose ineptitude was perfectly encapsulated by last year's "butt fumble." Even beyond that, though, statistically he remains one of the NFL's worst quarterbacks despite being one of its highest paid. In addition to at one point being benched in favor of Greg McElroy, the "Sanchize" threw the second-most INTs in the league (18) and second-fewest TDs (13) among quarterbacks to start more than 10 games. Additionally, his 66.9 quarterback rating was the worst among all full-time starters, with only Matt Cassel (66.7) proving more inept. It's telling about how bad the Jets' QB situation is that even such an abominable performance couldn't get Sanchez benched going into this season.
4. Amar'e Stoudemire
Sport: Basketball
Team: New York Knicks
2013-14 salary: $21,679,893
Key stats: 29 G (0 GS) in 2012-13, 14.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG (career lows)
Salary source
When LeBron decided to take his talents to South Beach in the summer of 2010, the Knicks were left with a ton of cap space and practically nobody to spend it on. Enter Amar'e, who was only too happy to grab New York's five-year, $99.7 million offer to become the face of the next generation of Knicks basketball despite his troubling history of serious knee injuries. Everything was great in 2010-11; Amar'e made second team All-NBA and the Knicks made the playoffs for the first time since 2004. Over the last two years, though, the injuries have reared their ugly head and limited Stoudemire to 73 of a possible 148 games. He has likewise fallen out of his starring role thanks to the arrival of Carmelo Anthony, and now faces several more seasons of uncertainty in New York due to his virtually untradeable contract.
3. Barry Zito
Sport: Baseball
Team: San Francisco Giants
2013-14 salary: $20,000,000
Key stats: 62-77, 4.53 ERA with San Francisco
Salary source
While Zito's bounce-back 2012 season may have given him a temporary reprieve from "worst sports contract ever" status, we can't ignore his full body of work with San Francisco when wondering if he may just be the most overpaid athlete in history. After an outstanding career in Oakland (six seasons, 102-63 record, 3.55 ERA, one Cy Young award), the wheels totally came off immediately after Zito signed on with the Giants for seven years and $126 million during the 2007 offseason. While he was money in the 2012 playoffs (2-0, 1.69 ERA in three starts), he has returned to mediocre this year, as to date he has posted a 4-8 record with a 5.09 ERA.
2. Gilbert Arenas
Sport: Basketball
Team: Washington Wizards
2013-14 salary: $22,346,536
Key stats: 13.0 PPG, .386 FG%, 30 games per season after signing new contract
Salary source
If you asked most NBA fans to name the top three highest-paid players in the game, chances are good they'd be able to nail the top two (Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki) pretty quickly. The third though, would likely elude them, especially considering he'll be plying his trade in China next season. Agent Zero was handed a massive contract by the Washington Wizards despite a serious knee injury, and Arenas repaid his team by threatening to shoot a teammate and finding it virtually impossible to stay on the court. He also was recently arrested for having an absurd amount of fireworks in his truck, so clearly he hasn't learned to follow the law just yet.
1. Alex Rodriguez
Sport: Baseball
Team: New York Yankees
2013-14 salary: $29,000,000
Key stats: .274 BA, 34 HR, 119 RBI combined between 2011 and 2012 seasons (221 G)
Salary source
The most bloated contract of 2013, and really in the history of sports, has to go to A-Rod. This once-proud player who was considered to be among the best of all-time has become a laughingstock, not only putting his foot in his mouth via Twitter but also by managing to get himself involved in pretty much every steroids scandal afflicting baseball in the last decade. He's become such a sideshow that the Yankees (at least according to Rodriguez himself) are now actively trying to keep him off the field in hopes he'll be suspended.