Taking into account endorsement agreements, Forbes` recent ranking of the NFL`s highest-paid players puts Prescott and Brady far ahead of anyone. The full list of the NFL`s highest-paid players, all of whom are quarterbacks and all earn at least $29.5 million a year. However, for the purposes of this list, Sporting News uses the average annual salary to evaluate the highest-paid players in the NFL. NFL contracts are unique in that coverage and base salaries vary greatly from contract to contract. Therefore, the average annual salary paints the most accurate picture of the league`s revenue landscape. The first overall pick of 2021 led the Jaguars to do something they had never done before. Lawrence`s signing bonus of $24,118,900 was paid on a lump sum basis within 15 business days of the performance of his contract. The Jaguars` typical payment plan for first-round signing bonuses was within 15 business days of signing half and the other half at the end of March. The salary is usually carried over in the NFL`s most lucrative contracts.
If a player has a significant signing bonus in their contract, in many cases some of the money will not be received until the next calendar year. One player who, surprisingly, is not in the top 15 is quarterback Tom Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion. While his one-year, $25 million contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers isn`t a change, Brady is making much more off-field revenue. The deal gives the 28-year-old first place in Forbes` 2021 ranking of the NFL`s highest-paid players, one step ahead of seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady. Prescott`s total pre-tax income of $87 million also includes $12 million from notes. A second-round pick for 2022 and a fourth-round pick for 2023 were traded to the Falcons in June for a disgruntled Jones and a sixth-round pick for 2023. The Titans have taken over the remaining three years of Jones` contract, which runs through the 2023 season, worth $38.326 million in the trade. A salary conversion of $14 million for salary cap purposes, paid in equal installments during the 2021 regular season, and a deferral of the $11 million payment required for the Falcons to receive Jones` 2023 contract year in March 2020, make up the bulk of his compensation for 2021. The world`s most lucrative sports league is harnessing the momentum of new media rights and monster betting deals, but NFL players are yet to share the spoils. While the team`s average value rose 14 percent this year to a record $3.5 billion, the decline in game-day revenue from ticket, concession and merchandise sales in the midst of the pandemic led the NFL to lower its salary cap for the first time in a decade from $198.2 million last year to $182.5 million for 2021.
This has dampened spending on front offices, which are facing a wage crisis following the awarding of a wave of huge contracts in recent years. According to Spotrac, all 32 teams in the league promised a total of $4.6 billion in free agent renewals and contracts this offseason (down 10 percent from 2020) with $2.5 billion in guaranteed money (down 11 percent). The Giants beat Leonard Williams for the second year in a row, but the parties eventually agreed on a long-term contract in March that kept him in New York with a three-year contract and $63 million with a $45 million guarantee, including a $22.5 million signing bonus. Since the Giants spent two mid-round draft picks in 2019 to acquire the defensive lineman from rival Crosstown Jets, Williams, now 27, is perhaps their most efficient passer with 11.5 sacks last season. Watt became the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL with a four-year extension of $112.011 million, an average of $28,002,750 a year just before the start of the regular season. Even more surprisingly, the Steelers dropped a long-established contract precedent where the signing bonus is the only guaranteed money to give Watt the most fully guaranteed money in NFL history for a non-quarterback with $80 million. A signing bonus of $35 million, of which $10 million will not be paid until next May, is part of the $80 million fully guaranteed. The Los Angeles Rams traded Jared Goff to Detroit in March after a disappointing 2020, and he will take over the Lions quarterback with a restructured contract that will pay him a $5.7 million salary and a $20 million bonus in 2021. The 26-year-old, who wants to return to his 2017 and 2018 Pro Bowl form, is working with brands like Banana Republic, Fanatics and Red Bull, using his JG16 clothing line to raise money for charity and help Warren Lane Elementary School in Inglewood, California, build a new library. Overall, the top ten players in the NFL will earn $418 million in 2021, according to Forbes calculations, a 9 percent increase from the previous year, despite a drop in the salary cap that hurt the league`s salaries. The top ten will collect $306.6 million in salaries and bonuses in 2021, a 5% year-over-year drop and the lowest number on the field since 2017, but they will offset that with $111 million from their off-field activities, including reviews, licenses, appearances and memorabilia, as well as the companies that manage them. That`s an 84 percent increase from the top ten of 2020, thanks in large part to Brady, and breaks the previous record of $67 million in 2016.
Trevor Lawrence, the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft in April, ranks 8th with $30.8 million, making him the first rookie to be in the top ten since the 2011 collective bargaining agreement significantly reduced the contracts of the best draft picks in the sport. Lawrence, who received a $24.1 million signing bonus from the Jacksonville Jaguars, adds $6 million off the field, including his own endorsement deal with FTX and partnerships with brands like Adidas, Gatorade and Fanatics. .
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