The Highest Paid NFL Players

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Average salary: $24,594,000

Andrew Luck is quite possibly the most boring dude ever. The two-time Heisman Trophy runner-up out of Stanford was one of the most hyped college players to ever enter the NFL Draft, and since being picked by the Colts, has basically just shut up and done his job. So, it came as little surprise when he signed a six-year extension in 2016 that made him the league’s highest-paid player.

Average salary: $24,250,000

Despite his presumably lucrative business of owning nine New Orleans-area Jimmy Johns franchises, this guy has earned an estimated $181 million over the course of his 16-season, ten-time Pro Bowl, Hall-of-Fame career. Although if I were Roger Goodell, I’d personally fine him for naming his kids Baylen, Bowen, Callen, and Rylen. Good luck figuring out which one is the daughter.

Average salary: $23,943,600

Despite Cousins offering, in 2016, to sign for $19 million over four years with $11 million guaranteed per year, the Redskins have for some reason opted to exercise the franchise tag option on their quarterback in each of the past two offseasons, paying out $44 million over two years, all guaranteed. The latest in a long tradition of questionable moves made by majority owner Dan Snyder makes Kirk Cousins the third highest-paid player in the NFL.

Average salary: $22,133,333

The Ravens quarterback is mostly known for being just good enough to allow Baltimore’s all-time-great defense to advance to three AFC Championship games in five years, and eventually a Super Bowl victory in 2013. That was good enough for the Ravens’ ownership, who tossed Flacco a six-year, $120 million contract that offseason. Since then, the Ravens have gone an impressive 31-33 over four seasons.

Average salary: $22,000,000

Aaron Rodgers has it all: a cannon for an arm, pinpoint accuracy, two NFL MVP awards, a Super Bowl ring, and a remarkably impressive dating resume for someone who looks like he should be working at Taco Bell. Whatever the Packers pay him, State Farm probably discount-doubles it.

Average salary: $21,900,000 

The sixth quarterback selected in the 2012 NFL Draft, Russell Wilson has quickly established himself as one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the game, leading the Seahawks to playoff appearances in all five of his pro seasons. He is also married to Ciara, which would be a lot cooler in 2004 when Wilson was a sophomore in high school, but is still pretty cool now.

Average salary: $21,850,000

The Steelers two-time Super Bowl champion QB and 13-year veteran is like a machine that never breaks down—when he isn’t injured or serving intermittent suspensions for violating the league’s conduct policy and/or a wide variety of municipal ordinances. Still, Big Ben continues to produce when he’s on the field, earning his fifth career Pro Bowl selection in 2016 at the age of 35.

Average salary: $21,000,000

It’s been a long, interesting, and often tumultuous journey for Carson Palmer since being drafted first overall out of USC in the 2003 NFL Draft by Cincinnati. But the journeyman ginger has undergone a renaissance in Arizona, putting in some of his all-time best seasons in the twilight of his career—you know, besides that whole imploding for six turnovers in the 2015 NFC Championship thing.

Average salary: $21,000,000

 Everyone makes fun of Eli Manning. He lacks the skill, charm, universal respect, and Papa Johns endorsements that Peyton supporters have flaunted in his face since he arrived in the league in 2004. But guess what, suckers? He’s the only QB on this list who is a two-time Super Bowl MVP (looking at you, Mr. Bundchen).

Average salary: $20,812,500

Next up, fittingly, is the guy San Diego traded for when Eli refused to sign with them after the 2004 NFL Draft. It might be the biggest travesty in the NFL today that Philip Rivers has played in a grand total of nine playoff games over the course of his 13-year career. The criminally underrated QB, who hasn’t missed a game since George W. Bush was in the White House, is eighth all-time in career passer rating.

Average salary: $20,760,000

Whether reinventing what it means to be a dual-threat quarterback, devising creative new ways of violating various academic or ethical standards at different colleges, or rocking a male romper at Coachella, Cam Newton has always been ahead of the curve. The dynamic young Panthers quarterback is easily one of the most fun players in the game to watch, and appears poised to dominate the NFC South for years to come.