The NFL’s Five Highest-Paid Players 2024

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After a record-breaking offseason for contracts, the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff leads a group of 10 gridiron stars collectively hauling in an estimated $644 million this year.

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Transcript
00:00Over the last six months, NFL teams doled out more than $12 billion in new contracts,
00:06demolishing the record for an offseason.
00:09And with all of that cash being tossed around, it's harder than ever to crack the list
00:13of the NFL's highest-paid players.
00:15For the second time in the last three years, football's five top earners are all quarterbacks.
00:21But the numbers are at a new level.
00:23All five are set to make at least $66 million during the 2024 league year, counting both
00:29their playing contracts and their endorsements and other business endeavors.
00:34That cutoff represents a nearly $20 million jump from last year, and the top five combined
00:39are poised to haul in $383 million before taxes and agents' fees.
00:45Here are the five highest-paid NFL players for 2024.
00:50Number 5.
00:51Justin Herbert Herbert signed a five-year, $262.5 million
00:57extension in 2023, which came with a $50.6 million option bonus paid this offseason.
01:04He also has another $45 million in bonus money due for 2025.
01:09The Young Chargers star threw his 1,500th completion in his 57th career game in November,
01:15becoming the fastest player in NFL history to reach the milestone.
01:19Herbert is also a burgeoning star off the field, appearing in commercials for SoFi,
01:24CCL, and Dr. Squatch Soap.
01:27Number 4.
01:28Joe Burrow Like Herbert, Burrow inked a massive contract
01:32extension in 2023 that paid out a hefty option bonus during the 2024 offseason.
01:38In his case, a five-year, $275 million extension with a $55 million bonus.
01:45A wrist injury cut short his 2023 season, but Burrow recently told Sports Illustrated
01:50that he used the time off to add muscle mass.
01:53Off the field, the quarterback walked in the Vogue World 2024 fashion show and switched
01:57one high-profile sponsorship from Nike to Alo Yoga, helping unveil the company's first
02:02running sneaker in August.
02:05Number 3.
02:06Jordan Love A first-round draft pick in 2020, Love served
02:11as the backup to Aaron Rodgers for three seasons before breaking out in 2023, throwing for
02:164,159 yards and 32 touchdowns as the Packers' starting quarterback.
02:23Expectations are much higher for his follow-up campaign.
02:25A poll of NFL coaches and executives by The Athletic had Love 14th among quarterbacks,
02:30up 13 spots from 2023.
02:33It's risky to hand a four-year, $220 million contract to a player with 18 career starts
02:39as the Packers did in July.
02:40But remember, Rodgers had made just seven starts when the Packers gave him a five-year
02:45extension in 2008.
02:48Number 2.
02:49Patrick Mahomes Mahomes still has the largest contract in
02:53NFL history, as measured by total value, with the 10-year, $450 million deal he signed in
03:002020.
03:01On an annual basis, however, he's been passed by.
03:04Ten quarterbacks now have higher per-year averages.
03:07As Mahomes waits for the Chiefs to give him an inevitable raise, he can certainly afford
03:11to be patient, given that he has the best portfolio of traditional endorsements in football.
03:17Mahomes also launched Throne Sport Coffee in May as the company's second-largest shareholder,
03:22and he was a producer on the Netflix docuseries Receiver.
03:27Number 1.
03:28Jared Goff After guiding the Lions to their first playoff
03:31appearance in seven years, Goff earned himself a four-year, $212 million extension in May,
03:37with $170 million in practical guarantees, plus a no-trade clause.
03:43His $73 million signing bonus stood as an NFL record for two months, until Jordan Love
03:48eclipsed him with $75 million from the Packers.
03:52Goff supplements his income with endorsements from brands including Ford, Old Spice, and
03:57appropriately, Jared Jewelers.

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