Welcome to the wealthiest NFL Players today! When it comes to professional football, skill and money often go hand in hand. These NFL players have not only done great on the field, but they have also made huge amounts of money through endorsement deals, lucrative contracts, and smart investments. Come with me as I go over the 10 richest players in the league right now.
Wealthiest NFL Players Today
✅10. Drew Brees – $160 Million
Drew Brees is a retired American quarterback who used to play in the NFL. He is worth $160 million. Brees quickly became one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL after making a name for himself in college football. His last game in the NFL was in March 2021.
He was a great asset to the New Orleans Saints before he retired, and he led the NFL in touchdowns by a quarterback. Brees also had the most passing yards of any quarterback in the league. A lot of people think that Brees is one of the best quarterbacks in football history, and some even think he’s the best quarterback ever. Drew made $250 million just in salary during his first 20 years in the NFL.
He makes about $15 million a year from endorsements. The Chargers signed Brees to a one-year, $8-million deal in 2005. He agreed to play for the Saints for six years and $60 million, with nearly $22 million in bonuses, in 2006. Since 2006, he has signed a number of deals, including a $100 million, five-year deal that was the highest amount of guaranteed money in NFL history at the time. In 2018, he signed a $50 million, two-year deal.
Drew made $50 million in salary, bonuses, and endorsements from June 2016 to June 2017. He made $43 million from June 2017 to June 2018. Between 2018 and 2019, he made an extra $40 million. He made $45 million from June 2019 to June 2020.
✅9. Russell Wilson – $160 Million
Wilson, an American football player, is worth $165 million. From 2012 to 2021, Russell Wilson played for Seattle. He signed up with the Broncos before 2022. He has played in and won one Super Bowl. One of the best-paid athletes in the world. At $48.5 million a season, he is one of the best-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. Wilson made $90 million from June 2018 to June 2019. His NFL salary is more than $238.3 million. Wilson extended his deal with the Seahawks for four years and $87.6 million on July 31, 2015. There was a $31 million signing bonus and a $60 million guarantee in the deal.
His base salary went up to $12.34 million in 2016, then to $12.6 million, $15.5 million in 2018, and $17 million in 2019. Russell signed a new four-year, $140 million deal with the Seattle Seahawks on April 16, 2019. The signing bonus of $65 million made the deal the richest in NFL history. The deal promised $107 million.
Russell made $35 million a year with the Seahawks for the last two years. He gets $48.5 million a year from the Broncos. The Broncos took over Russell’s Seahawks contract before the 2022 season. Jones will get $24 million in 2022 and $27 million the next year. Russell Wilson received a new five-year, $242.5 million deal from the Broncos in September 2022.
✅8. Steve Young – $200 Million
Steve Young used to play quarterback in the NFL and is now a successful businessman, investor, and sports commentator. Young has made a lot of money since leaving the football field and now has a net worth of $200 million. Young is one of a kind in the sports world when it comes to money. He has a great sense for investments and business deals. It wasn’t easy for Young to stop working hard, even though he was a famous quarterback with the best passer rating in the NFL.
In 1984, he signed a groundbreaking $40 million deal with the Los Angeles Express in the United States Football League (USFL), which was their first game. Unfortunately, even though he played great on the field, the Express had money problems that ended up killing both the team and the league.
When he first got to the NFL, Young had a tough time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It wasn’t until he joined the San Francisco 49ers that he found his groove. Even though Young started out as Joe Montana’s backup, he jumped at the chance when Montana got hurt and couldn’t play.
Young led the 49ers to victory over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX in 1994. It was the highlight of his football career. Young retired in 1999 because he had too many concussions, but his legacy lives on as an advocate for concussion safety and awareness in professional sports. Steve Young’s influence goes beyond football. He is still making waves as a successful businessman and a respected sports commentator, leaving an indelible mark on both football and business.
✅7. John Madden – $200 Million
Boom! At the time of his death, John Madden was worth $200 million. He was a famous NFL player, sportscaster, and businessman. John Madden passed away on December 28, 2021. He was 85 years old. Even though John Madden was a successful NFL coach, he’s best known for what he did after he retired. He was a well-known NFL commentator who backed “Madden NFL.”
John Madden was in a lot of brand ads. As the first host, he made $1 million. One of the first entertainers to make more than $1 million from endorsements.
The video game “Madden” made Madden $200 million. John Madden made $8 million a year, which is $14 million today, when he was at the top of his broadcasting career. Even though he makes a lot of money, Madden’s career in video games is better than his coaching and commentating. He made most of his money from his video game series.
Since 1988, Electronic Arts has made NFL video games with his name and picture on them. After selling more than 130 million copies, the series is still making money.
For $300 million, EA Sports became the NFL’s only game developer in 2005. At the same time, there were rumours that EA was thinking about taking “Madden” out of future games. John Madden agreed to let the games use his name and likeness for years to come in exchange for $150 million. Before he retired in 2009, John Madden made around $2 million a year as a contract player.
✅6. Aaron Rodgers – $200 Million
The American football player Aaron Rodgers has a net worth of $200 million and makes an average of $37.5 million a year. Most people know Aaron Rodgers as the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. The New York Jets got Aaron in a trade on April 24, 2023. He is one of the best-paid athletes in the world and the NFL’s best-paid player. Like, from June 2018 to June 2019, he made $90 million from his salary and endorsements.
Aaron signed a new deal with the Packers in March 2022 that will pay him $50 million a year for four years and guarantee him $153 million. Rodgers and Ryan Braun, a player for the Milwaukee Brewers, shared the name of a restaurant in the Milwaukee area in the past.
The restaurant did close, though, after Braun’s PED scandal. Rodgers is the first NFL player still playing to own a piece of an NBA team. In April 2018, when he was named a new limited partner in the Milwaukee Bucks’ ownership group, he became this person. Rodgers has also been in a lot of ads over the years, including ones for State Farm Insurance, Pizza Hut, and many campaigns in his home state of Wisconsin. Forbes actually calls Rodgers’ deal with State Farm “one of the richest endorsement deals in the NFL.”
The deal is worth a large amount of money, probably between $2 and $3 million. IZOD, Adidas, Prevea Healthcare, Bergstrom Automotive, and Sharpie are some of the other brands he works with as an endorser. He was in an episode of the second season of the sketch comedy show “Key & Peele” with Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, another Packers player, and a few other NFL players.
✅5. Roger Goodell – $250 Million
Roger Goodell is an American sports executive who is worth $250 million. He is the commissioner of the NFL, made a lot of money. Take over as commissioner before the 2007 season. When he took over, the NFL made just over $6 billion a year.
The league makes $20 billion every year. Roger got a lot of good things for being the league leader. Roger started out with a $6 million salary, as this article will explain later. As a base salary and performance bonus, he makes $65 million a year. He made $600 million from 2007 to 2023.
Roger and three other people were named finalists after commissioner Paul Tagliabue quit. His election as commissioner in 2006 was very close. Goodell is the head of NFL Charities. He is the son of Charles Goodell, who used to be a congressman and senator from New York. In his senior year, Roger was named Bronxville High School’s top athlete. He played three sports that year. Sadly, injuries ended his time playing football in college.
After getting his economics degree from Washington & Jefferson College in 1981, Goodell worked as an unpaid administrative intern for the NFL. He worked his way up to commissioner 25 years after he first started working.
People like the NFL more now than they did in the middle of the 2000s, but Goodell has had some rough times as commissioner. Player safety, the New England Patriots’ “Deflategate” scandal, and the obvious pass interference that wasn’t called in the NFC Championship Game between the New Orleans Saints and the Los Angeles Rams are just a few of the controversial topics that have come up in the league. The last example changed the rule so coaches could question calls of interference.
✅4. Peyton Manning – $250 Million
Peyton Manning is an American who used to play quarterback in the NFL. He is worth $250 million. People think that Peyton Manning was one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. He set many records and was known for being a great leader and football intelligence. Manning played for 18 seasons, mostly with the Indianapolis Colts.
He ended his career with the Denver Broncos. He turned the Colts into a perennial contender and led them to victory in the 2007 Super Bowl. Manning’s time with the Broncos was just as important. In 2016, they won the Super Bowl, which was his second championship. Manning won a lot of awards over the course of his career.
He was named to 14 Pro Bowls and five MVP awards, which was a record at the time he retired. When he retired, he held many of the league’s passing records, such as for touchdowns and yards. Some of these records have since been broken. Manning set new standards for quarterback play with the way he thought about the game and how well he could read defences and change plays at the line of scrimmage.
Peyton Manning was one of the highest-paid celebrities in the world when he was at the top of his game. Peyton Manning has made just under $600 million over the course of his career, which includes his NFL salary and endorsements. He made $18 million a year in salary and $40 million from endorsements when he was at the top of his game.
He still has very lucrative endorsement deals with many companies, such as Bud Light, Buick, Sony, ESPN, Spring, DirecTV, Master Card, Reebok, and Gatorade, even though he is no longer playing football. Peyton is also the owner of twenty-one Colorado-based Papa John’s pizza franchises.
✅3. Tom Brady – $300 Million
Tom Brady is an American who used to play quarterback in professional football and now works as a PR person and business owner. He is worth $300 million. Gisele Bundchen, his ex-wife and supermodel, has a $400 million fortune all her own. This is not his net worth. There was $650 million worth of wealth between Tom and Gisele when they were married.
Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls, which is more than any other player in NFL history. He played in a record 10 of them with the New England Patriots and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Over the course of ten years, he won three NFL MVP awards and a record five Super Bowl MVP awards.
Tom moved from the New England Patriots to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. He signed a two-year, $50 million deal with the Buccaneers that included $9 million in bonuses. Through his salary and endorsements, Tom made more than $473 million during his time in the NFL. A lot of people think Tom Brady is the best football player ever. Tom Brady reportedly signed a 10-year, $375 million deal to work as a commentator for NFL games on Fox Sports on May 10, 2022.
He will do this after he retires. This deal, worth $37.5 million a year, would be the biggest in the history of sports broadcasting. Brady would also make a little more than twice as much as Tony Romo and Troy Aikman, who used to be quarterbacks and are now commentators. The most recent news, though, says that Brady is likely to back out of this deal.
✅2. Fran Tarkenton – $300 Million
Fran Tarkenton has a net worth of $300 million. He used to be an NFL quarterback, a TV personality, and a computer software executive. People know Fran Tarkenton best for his time with the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants. Between 1961 and 1978, Fran played 18 years in the NFL. He was a co-host on the live TV show “That’s Incredible!” and a commentator on “Monday Night Football.”
Before he left the NFL, he held every major quarterback record. He became a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Tarkenton completed 3,686 out of 6,467 passes for 47,003 yards and 342 touchdowns during his 18 NFL seasons. He also threw 266 interceptions. Tarkenton has thrown for 47,003 yards in his career, which ranks him sixth all-time in NFL history.
He also has 342 touchdowns, which ranks him fourth all-time. Tarkenton is well-known for more than just his football career. He is also a successful businessman and TV personality. Early in the 1960s, Fran was named starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings. Each year, he made $12,000. That’s about the same as $111,000 today, after taking inflation into account.
In the beginning of his career, Fran worked part-time jobs during the off-season to make extra money. One job he had that paid $600 a month was as a salesman for a trucking company in Idaho. A printing company in Minnesota and the advertising firm BBD&O were also his employers. His highest salary in a single season was $250,000.
Fran Tarkenton made a total of $1.2 million in the NFL. That’s about $8 million in today’s money. Fran also made a lot of money from endorsements with companies like Johnson & Johnson, on top of his NFL salary.
✅1. Roger Staubach – $600 Million
Roger Staubach is an American who used to play quarterback in professional football. He is worth $600 million. He is best known for being the quarterback for the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys. Staubach and his partner, Robert Holloway Jr., started their own commercial real estate business in 1977. They called it The Staubach Company. Before that, he started working as a real estate agent for the Henry S. Miller Company during the off-seasons, from 1970 to 1977. Back in 1982, he got rid of Holloway.
The Staubach Company has worked with big companies like AT&T, McDonald’s, K Mart Corporation, and the Hospital Corporation of America. They also own parts of 27 apartment complexes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, among other things. After he stopped playing professional sports, he worked full-time on The Staubach Company. He was its chairman and CEO until he said he was leaving on June 20, 2007.
Jones Lang LaSalle bought The Staubach Company on July 11, 2008, for $613 million. In addition to real estate, Staubach has worked on other projects. He is now a joint owner of Hall of Fame Racing, a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Team, with fellow former Cowboy Troy Aikman. The team started racing in 2006.
FAQ’s
1. Who are the wealthiest NFL players?
Some of the wealthiest NFL players include familiar names like Russell Wilson, Tom Brady, Drew Brees, and Aaron Rodgers. These players have earned substantial fortunes through their football careers, endorsements, and smart financial decisions.
2. How do NFL players get rich?
NFL players become wealthy through their contracts with teams, endorsement deals with companies, and making smart investments. They not only earn big salaries but also explore opportunities to grow their money outside of football.
3. Are NFL players some of the richest athletes worldwide?
While NFL players may not always be the richest athletes globally, many of them are among the highest-paid athletes. Their earnings from contracts and endorsements often place them among the wealthiest athletes in the world.
4. What do wealthy NFL players invest in?
Wealthy NFL players invest in various things like real estate, stocks, businesses, and startups. They also start their own brands or businesses, using their fame and wealth to explore new opportunities.
5. How do endorsements help NFL players become wealthy?
Endorsement deals are a big source of income for NFL players. They promote products, brands, and services, earning money beyond their contracts. These deals significantly contribute to their overall wealth.
6. Do NFL players face financial challenges despite their wealth?
Yes, some NFL players do face financial challenges despite their high earnings. Overspending, poor money management, and unexpected expenses can lead to financial difficulties. Many players benefit from financial education and guidance.
7. Can retired NFL players maintain their wealth after retiring?
Retired NFL players often have to adjust to life after football and manage their wealth carefully. Those who plan wisely, invest smartly, and explore post-career opportunities can maintain their financial stability.
8. How do NFL players give back to their communities?
Many NFL players use their wealth and influence to support charitable causes and help their communities. They establish foundations, organize fundraisers, and participate in various philanthropic efforts to make a positive impact.
9. Why is financial education important for NFL players?
Financial education helps NFL players manage their money effectively, avoid financial pitfalls, and secure their futures. Many teams provide resources and programs to educate players about budgeting, investing, and financial planning.
10. How do the wealthiest NFL players influence the sports industry?
Wealthy NFL players serve as role models for young athletes and set standards for financial success in sports. Their impact extends beyond the field, shaping the business side of the NFL and inspiring others to achieve both athletic and financial excellence.
Conclusion
To sum up, the NFL isn’t just about touchdowns and tackles; it’s also about making a lot of money and being successful. Not only have these players dominated the game, but they have also made huge amounts of money through smart investments and deals. When we work hard and dream big, they show us that anything is possible if we put our minds to it.
Their kindness off the field also makes us think about how important it is to help others.
These players are more than just athletes; they’re also good examples of how to stick with something even when it gets hard and how to save money wisely. We should not only cheer for them at games, but also recognize the good things they’ve done in business and charity. Let their stories inspire us to reach our own goals, on and off the field.