No one is paid more on a football team than the starting quarterback. And many are worth every penny. They relay the play calls, read coverages, and make jaw-dropping plays that lead their teams to victory.
Today, NFL contracts are filled with stipulations and milestones that allow the player to earn more than ever before. Most also include guaranteed money, cash that the player will earn regardless of injury or performance. This is especially true when it comes to the contracts awarded to starting quarterbacks.
So — which current NFL quarterbacks have the highest guaranteed money heading into the 2023 season? Here’s a look at the top five.
5) Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills – $150,000,000 guaranteed
Josh Allen has proven to be one of the league’s top quarterbacks. He’s a dual threat who can attack defenses both through the air and on the ground.
In 2022, Allen led the Bills to a 13-3 record, completing 63.3% of his passes for 4,283 yards passing, 35 passing touchdowns, and 14 interceptions. The 26-year-old also added over 700 yards rushing and seven rushing touchdowns.
While Buffalo hasn’t had the kind of postseason success they would have liked in recent years, their regular season exploits have few peers.
4) Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers – $150,815,000 guaranteed
Aaron Rodgers has been the face of the Packers’ organization for over a decade. With a potential trade on the horizon, it seems that Rodgers won’t be finishing his career in Green Bay if he decides to continue playing. What won’t change is his contract position.
With over 59,000 career passing yards and 475 career touchdowns, Rodgers is certainly deserving of one of the league’s largest contracts.
Rodgers’ contract will take him through his age 41 season as he looks to become just the 5th QB in NFL history to eclipse the 500 TD pass mark this season.
3) Russell Wilson, Denver Broncos – $161,000,000 guaranteed
It was a difficult first season in Denver for Russell Wilson.
The Broncos finished last in the AFC West with a 5-12 record, which led to the firing of first-year head coach Nathaniel Hackett. Wilson completed 60.5% of his passes for 3,524 yards in 2022. However, he finished with only 16 passing touchdowns.
Regardless of how the Broncos feel about Wilson’s play, they’re financially tied to the quarterback until at least 2026. And even then it’ll be a tough pill to swallow at $31.2M in dead cap hits.
2) Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals – $189,500,000 guaranteed
Murray will miss a good chunk of the 2023 season with a torn ACL.
In 11 games last year, the 25-year-old had a completion percentage of 66.4%, throwing for 2,368 passing yards, 14 touchdowns, and seven interceptions.
When healthy, Kyler can be one of the most electrifying quarterbacks in the league. He provides a scrambling ability that you could argue is the NFL’s best. But inconsistent play, and questions about his maturity have led to many speculating that Arizona may be experiencing some buyer’s remorse following Murray’s extension.
Arizona is banking on a new coaching staff being able to turn things around for their star QB in the desert.
1) Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns – $230,000,000 guaranteed
Watson is by far the player with the league’s most guaranteed money. The contract is 100% guaranteed, meaning he’ll make that money even if he plays poorly or gets injured.
Waston hasn’t played a full NFL season since 2020. He was suspended 11 games during the 2022 campaign, due to allegations of sexual assault and sexual harassment.
In his six starts with Cleveland, Watson completed 58.2% of his passes for 1,102 yards and seven touchdowns. He also threw five interceptions.
Watson is expected to play a full 17-game schedule in 2023, which will be Browns fans first look at what he can do over the course of a full season. If things don’t go as expected, the franchise won’t have many options beyond playing out the contract or finding a trade partner as the contract is an absolute albatross in terms of financial commitments.
Watson will be a UFA in 2027. Prior to that though he’ll carry dead cap hits of $219M, $164M, $109M, and $54M respectively. Cleveland had better hope their gamble pays off.
-Hayden Remillard
Twitter: @haydentalks
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.