Jalen Hurts is the highest-paid participant in NFL historical past after his profitable extension with the Eagles on Monday. The star quarterback will earn a median of $51 million per 12 months over the lifetime of his $255M deal, which ties him to Philadelphia via 2028.
Hurts resetting the QB market is not precisely shocking. He’s a 24-year-old MVP candidate coming off a historic Super Bowl effort, and signal-callers at all times command high greenback. Just ask the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, whose offseason has been headlined by an try to safe his personal document payout, both in or exterior of Baltimore.
But how a lot have QBs really elevated in worth to NFL groups over time? We all know that the highest QB salaries escalate from 12 months to 12 months, primarily permitting the subsequent elite one to signal to grow to be the brand new proprietor of the largest deal ever. (It’s why, come September, Hurts could properly path each the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Chargers’ Justin Herbert within the contract race.)
One solution to check whether or not QB offers have really gotten larger is to evaluate them in gentle of the wage cap. The cap tends to rise every year, so which QBs are placing a much bigger dent of their respective groups’ payroll?
Here’s a have a look at the highest QB contracts signed in every of the final 20 years:
Note: Total contract values and APY (common per-year) values are rounded to the closest millionth. Also: The percent-of-salary-cap totals listed beneath incorporate a participant’s new-money APY. For instance, Jalen Hurts’ extension will not technically start till 2024, after his rookie contract expires, so he’ll be considerably cheaper to the Eagles in 2023. We are as an alternative specializing in what share of the present cap he (and different QBs) soak up with future annual earnings.
2023
Jalen Hurts
Eagles
5 years, $255M
$51M
$224.8M
18.9
2022
Aaron Rodgers
Packers
3 years, $151M
$50.3M
$208.2M
24.2
2021
Josh Allen
Bills
6 years, $258M
$43M
$182.5M
23.6
2020
Patrick Mahomes
Chiefs
10 years, $450M
$45M
$198.2M
22.7
2019
Russell Wilson
Seahawks
4 years, $140M
$35M
$188.2M
18.6
2018
Aaron Rodgers
Packers
4 years, $134M
$33.5M
$177.2M
18.9
2017
Matthew Stafford
Lions
5 years, $135M
$27M
$167M
16.2
2016
Andrew Luck
Colts
5 years, $123M
$24.6M
$155.3M
15.8
2015
Russell Wilson
Seahawks
4 years, $87.6M
$21.9M
$143.3M
15.3
2014
Colin Kaepernick
49ers
6 years, $114M
$19M
$133M
14.3
2013
Aaron Rodgers
Packers
5 years, $110M
$22M
$123.6M
17.8
2012
Drew Brees
Saints
5 years, $100M
$20M
$120.6M
16.6
2011
Peyton Manning
Colts
5 years, $90M
$18M
$120.4M
14.9
2010
Tom Brady
Patriots
4 years, $72M
$18M
No cap
N/A
2009
Eli Manning
Giants
6 years, $97.5M
$16.3M
$123M
13.2
2008
Ben Roethlisberger
Steelers
6 years, $88M
$14.7M
$116M
12.6
2007
Tony Romo
Cowboys
6 years, $67.5M
$11.3M
$109M
10.4
2006
Drew Brees
Saints
5 years, $60M
$12M
$102M
11.8
2005Carson Palmer
Bengals6 years, $97M$16.2M$85.5M18.92004Peyton Manning
Colts7 years, $98M$14M$80.6M17.4
Just a few key takeaways:
If you are actually elite, you’ll be able to reset the market a number of occasions: Patrick Mahomes took a comparatively team-friendly deal looking back, offered he signed for a full decade. But Aaron Rodgers (3), Drew Brees (2), Peyton Manning (2) and Russell Wilson (2) all turned the NFL’s best-paid QB greater than as soon as over the past 20 years.Generally talking, QBs are certainly costlier than they had been a decade in the past: Not solely due to per-year payouts however in relation to the cap. There are exceptions: the Colts and Bengals paid a premium for Manning and Carson Palmer, respectively, on the flip of the century, committing 17+ % of their wage cap to the QBs. But take into account this: since 2018, for six straight seasons, the highest-paid QB has accounted for at the very least 18.5% of the cap. Between 2006-2017, the 12 years prior, not a single one of many highest-paid QBs reached that quantity, and half of them fell beneath 14.5%.The QBs set to observe Hurts’ footsteps are arrange properly: This is the obvious, but when Hurts can method 19% of the cap because the Eagles look to remain in win-now mode after a Super Bowl bid, guys like Burrow and Herbert should not have a lot of an issue commanding simply as a lot, if no more. That would probably prolong the streak of best-paid QBs clearing 20% of the cap, making it 4 straight seasons that has occurred, and probably setting a benchmark for all market-resetting negotiations.
