These Are The Highest-Paid NFL Players Going Into The 2021 Season

Highest paid NFL players in 2021

Getty Image / Christian Petersen


  • The 2021/22 NFL season is upon us and these are the highest-paid NFL players on and off the field going into the season
  • This list of the 10 highest-paid NFL players illustrates that now is an incredibly good time to be a quarterback
  • Read more BroBible articles here

The 2021/22 NFL season will kick off when my Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. That game will feature the #1 and #2 highest-paid players in the NFL season, according to the latest report from Forbes.

Quarterbacks occupy the highest-profile position in the NFL and they are usually compensated accordingly for that. It feels like it’s more common for a quarterback to be the highest-paid player on a team than not even if that’s not necessarily the case. And when you look at this list of the ten highest-paid NFL players this season it only reinforces that feeling.

This list of the highest-paid NFL players in 2021 from Forbes includes both on the field and off the field earnings. So while Tom Brady is only making $27.5 million this season on the field he’s still the 2nd highest-paid player in the NFL because he’s raking in $45 million off the field. Quarterbacks often also bring in the most lucrative endorsements as the faces of their respective franchises, as we see here.

Here’s how the list shakes out:

  1. Dak Prescott: $87 Million Total ($75M on the field, $12M off) — $66 million signing bonus, owns a large stake in four Walk-On’s restaurants across Texas, makes up to $12M in endorsements
  2. Tom Brady: $72.5 Million Total ($27.5M on, $45M off the field) — Has extremely lucrative endorsement deals with Fanatics, Under Armour, FTX, and his own TB12 supplements + NFT platform
  3. Patrick Mahomes: $44.8 Million Total ($22.8M on, $22M off) — Endorsement deals with Adidas, State Farm, and Oakley. He also owns a stake in the Kansas City Royals
  4. Aaron Rodgers: $33.4M Total ($22.4M on, $11M off) — Deals with State Farm, Adidas, and Fanatics
  5. Trent Williams: $33.3M Total ($32.3M on, $1M off) — Trent got PAID when he signed with the 49ers
  6. Jonathan Allen: $31.2M Total ($31.1M on, $0.1M off) — His $72M extension included a signing bonus of $30 million
  7. Russell Wilson: $31M Total ($19M on, $12M off) — He has deals with Fanatics, Lids, is launching his own hat line, and a children’s entertainment company
  8. Trevor Lawrence: $30.8M Total ($24.8M on, $6M off) — As the #1 overall NFL Draft pick, Trevor got PAID by the Jaguars. He’s also signed deals with Gatorade, Fanatics, and Adidas
  9. Jared Goff: $27.7M Total ($25.7M on, $2M off) — A restructured contract will hand Goff a bonus of $20 million for the 2021 season
  10. Leonard Williams: $26.2M Total ($26M on, $0.2M off) — A $22.5M signing bonus came as part of a 3-year $63 million deal with the Giants

Check out the full article on Forbes right here for their complete rundown on the highest earners.

Only 3 of the top 10 highest-earning NFL players this season aren’t quarterbacks.  But it’s also pretty clear that a LOT of the money QBs make is away from the field as they are the faces of their respective teams.

Am I shocked to see Dak Prescott continuously one of the highest-paid players in the NFL? Kind of, yeah. He’s good. Cowboys fans would tell you he’s great but give you a list of reasons Dak hasn’t broken through yet. Some of those reasons are valid. But I have trouble understanding how a guy who is 3-3 in the playoffs is the highest-paid person in the league. This is the year for Dem Boyz though, right?