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The Seattle Seahawks just handed Russell Wilson the most yearly money of any player in NFL history.
Wilson’s average of $35 million bests the four-year, $134 million deal Aaron Rodgers signed with the Green Bay Packers last August. His total value of $140 million is second to only Atlanta Falcons signal caller Matt Ryan, who signed a five-year deal back in May of 2018.
This got me thinking about the ROI (return on investment) that teams get for these crazy QB contracts (*note: all data for this comes from Spotrac.com and pro-football-reference.com). If Wilson’s cap hit for 2019 is $35 million, that means Seattle will have almost 19 percent of its salary cap tied up in one player.
Spotrac has a tool that shows the entire career earnings by position if you want to see it, so I looked at the career earnings for the top 100 modern QBs (some QBs did not show up in their list, such as Steve Young and Joe Montana, no idea why) and then found how many wins each QB had led his team(s) to.
I divided money by wins to find the best and the worst QBs in terms of ROI. Note that the guys on the “bad” are mainly career backups who got paid large sums to hold clipboards and wear a headset.
| Rank | Quarterback | Sportrac Career Earnings | Career Regular Season Wins as of 4/19 | $/Win | NFL Passes Thrown | $/Pass |
| 1 | Chase Daniel | $28,304,317 | 2 | $14,152,159 | 154 | $183,794 |
| 2 | Charlie Whitehurst | $17,546,823 | 2 | $8,773,412 | 396 | $44,310 |
| 3 | Luke McCown | $17,159,334 | 2 | $8,579,667 | 356 | $48,200 |
| 4 | Matt Flynn | $19,222,800 | 3 | $6,407,600 | 357 | $53,845 |
| 5 | Jimmy Garoppolo | $45,458,637 | 8 | $5,682,330 | 361 | $125,924 |
| 6 | JaMarcus Russell | $39,365,000 | 7 | $5,623,571 | 680 | $57,890 |
| 7 | Sam Darnold | $20,558,338 | 4 | $5,139,585 | 414 | $49,658 |
| 8 | Mike Glennon | $27,446,782 | 6 | $4,574,464 | 791 | $34,699 |
| 9 | Sam Bradford | $130,022,863 | 34 | $3,824,202 | 2967 | $43,823 |
| 10 | Baker Mayfield | $22,329,440 | 6 | $3,721,573 | 486 | $45,945 |
| 11 | Kevin Kolb | $29,003,708 | 9 | $3,222,634 | 755 | $38,416 |
| 12 | Josh Allen | $13,965,846 | 5 | $2,793,169 | 320 | $43,643 |
| 13 | Brock Osweiler | $41,396,679 | 15 | $2,759,779 | 1165 | $35,534 |
| 14 | Matthew Stafford | $178,278,969 | 66 | $2,701,197 | 5405 | $32,984 |
| 15 | Drew Stanton | $29,162,094 | 11 | $2,651,099 | 659 | $44,252 |
| 16 | Matt Leinart | $18,810,000 | 8 | $2,351,250 | 641 | $29,345 |
| 17 | Josh McCown | $49,668,000 | 23 | $2,159,478 | 2628 | $18,900 |
| 18 | Kirk Cousins | $72,640,630 | 34 | $2,136,489 | 2702 | $26,884 |
| 19 | Michael Vick | $124,758,908 | 61 | $2,045,228 | 3217 | $38,781 |
| 20 | Aaron Rodgers | $204,044,529 | 100 | $2,040,445 | 5492 | $37,153 |
| 21 | Eli Manning | $235,280,004 | 116 | $2,028,276 | 7972 | $29,513 |
| 22 | Mark Sanchez | $74,223,773 | 37 | $2,006,048 | 2320 | $31,993 |
| 23 | Robert Griffin III | $29,203,473 | 15 | $1,946,898 | 1216 | $24,016 |
| 24 | Matt Schaub | $90,555,000 | 47 | $1,926,702 | 3281 | $27,600 |
| 25 | Carson Palmer | $174,148,722 | 92 | $1,892,921 | 6307 | $27,612 |
| 26 | Tyrod Taylor | $43,301,548 | 23 | $1,882,676 | 1356 | $31,933 |
| 27 | Andrew Luck | $97,107,998 | 53 | $1,832,226 | 3290 | $29,516 |
| 28 | Matt Cassel | $65,494,057 | 36 | $1,819,279 | 2683 | $24,411 |
| 29 | Rob Johnson | $21,033,000 | 12 | $1,752,750 | 806 | $26,096 |
| 30 | Matt Ryan | $178,707,925 | 102 | $1,752,038 | 6201 | $28,819 |
| 31 | David Carr | $40,000,000 | 23 | $1,739,130 | 2267 | $17,644 |
| 32 | Philip Rivers | $202,917,656 | 118 | $1,719,641 | 7000 | $28,988 |
| 33 | Chad Henne | $30,780,135 | 18 | $1,710,008 | 1959 | $15,712 |
| 34 | Blake Bortles | $40,654,802 | 24 | $1,693,950 | 2632 | $15,446 |
| 35 | Matt Moore | $25,098,000 | 15 | $1,673,200 | 983 | $25,532 |
| 36 | Derek Anderson | $33,284,303 | 20 | $1,664,215 | 1674 | $19,883 |
| 37 | Todd Collins | $18,304,750 | 11 | $1,664,068 | 701 | $26,112 |
| 38 | Jay Cutler | $122,196,087 | 74 | $1,651,298 | 4920 | $24,837 |
| 39 | Tony Romo | $127,422,458 | 78 | $1,633,621 | 4335 | $29,394 |
| 40 | Derek Carr | $52,010,601 | 32 | $1,625,331 | 2800 | $18,575 |
| 41 | Ryan Tannehill | $67,550,979 | 42 | $1,608,357 | 2911 | $23,205 |
| 42 | Alex Smith | $146,475,000 | 94 | $1,558,245 | 4941 | $29,645 |
| 43 | Colin Kaepernick | $43,479,216 | 28 | $1,552,829 | 1692 | $25,697 |
| 44 | Jeff Blake | $60,452,000 | 39 | $1,550,051 | 3241 | $18,652 |
| 45 | Cam Newton | $104,692,164 | 68 | $1,539,591 | 3891 | $26,906 |
| 46 | Joe Flacco | $147,800,000 | 96 | $1,539,583 | 5670 | $26,067 |
| 47 | Shaun Hill | $25,779,225 | 17 | $1,516,425 | 1225 | $21,044 |
| 48 | Blaine Gabbert | $19,526,851 | 13 | $1,502,065 | 1498 | $13,035 |
| 49 | Mitchell Trubisky | $21,504,146 | 15 | $1,433,610 | 764 | $28,147 |
| 50 | Drew Brees | $221,710,422 | 155 | $1,430,390 | 9783 | $22,663 |
| 51 | Marc Bulger | $55,391,000 | 41 | $1,351,000 | 3171 | $17,468 |
| 52 | Peyton Manning | $248,732,000 | 186 | $1,337,269 | 9380 | $26,517 |
| 53 | Brian Hoyer | $21,171,470 | 16 | $1,323,217 | 1412 | $14,994 |
| 54 | Ben Roethlisberger | $187,286,864 | 144 | $1,300,603 | 7168 | $26,128 |
| 55 | Nick Foles | $31,933,635 | 26 | $1,228,217 | 1581 | $20,198 |
| 56 | Jameis Winston | $25,258,894 | 21 | $1,202,804 | 1922 | $13,142 |
| 57 | Joey Harrington | $31,195,000 | 26 | $1,199,808 | 2538 | $12,291 |
| 58 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | $58,041,098 | 50 | $1,160,822 | 4285 | $13,545 |
| 59 | Chad Pennington | $50,966,000 | 44 | $1,158,318 | 2471 | $20,626 |
| 60 | Vince Young | $35,390,000 | 31 | $1,141,613 | 1304 | $27,140 |
| 61 | Byron Leftwich | $27,212,000 | 24 | $1,133,833 | 1605 | $16,955 |
| 62 | Jake Delhomme | $63,474,061 | 56 | $1,133,465 | 2932 | $21,649 |
| 63 | Josh Freeman | $28,328,824 | 25 | $1,133,153 | 2048 | $13,832 |
| 64 | Matt Hasselbeck | $88,044,500 | 85 | $1,035,818 | 5330 | $16,519 |
| 65 | Tom Brady | $212,166,804 | 207 | $1,024,960 | 9375 | $22,631 |
| 66 | Donovan McNabb | $99,689,735 | 98 | $1,017,242 | 5374 | $18,550 |
| 67 | Russell Wilson | $74,362,520 | 75 | $991,500 | 3261 | $22,804 |
| 68 | Andy Dalton | $67,314,198 | 68 | $989,915 | 3921 | $17,168 |
| 69 | Jared Goff | $23,677,990 | 24 | $986,583 | 1243 | $19,049 |
| 70 | Carson Wentz | $22,588,656 | 23 | $982,115 | 1448 | $15,600 |
| 71 | Case Keenum | $25,181,151 | 26 | $968,506 | 1844 | $13,656 |
| 72 | Kurt Warner | $62,773,000 | 67 | $936,910 | 4070 | $15,423 |
| 73 | Tim Couch | $20,264,000 | 22 | $921,091 | 1714 | $11,823 |
| 74 | Marcus Mariota | $24,239,134 | 27 | $897,746 | 1605 | $15,102 |
| 75 | Kyle Boller | $17,915,000 | 20 | $895,750 | 1519 | $11,794 |
| 76 | Daunte Culpepper | $34,990,000 | 41 | $853,415 | 3199 | $10,938 |
| 77 | Jake Plummer | $58,777,775 | 69 | $851,852 | 4350 | $13,512 |
| 78 | Steve McNair | $76,234,917 | 91 | $837,746 | 4544 | $16,777 |
| 79 | Drew Bledsoe | $79,856,250 | 98 | $814,860 | 6717 | $11,889 |
| 80 | Kerry Collins | $63,748,000 | 81 | $787,012 | 6261 | $10,182 |
| 81 | Jason Campbell | $24,454,500 | 32 | $764,203 | 2518 | $9,712 |
| 82 | Brett Favre | $137,829,000 | 186 | $741,016 | 10169 | $13,554 |
| 83 | Brad Johnson | $53,120,500 | 72 | $737,785 | 4326 | $12,279 |
| 84 | David Garrard | $28,684,000 | 39 | $735,487 | 2281 | $12,575 |
| 85 | Kyle Orton | $30,109,000 | 42 | $716,881 | 2712 | $11,102 |
| 86 | Jeff George | $30,246,000 | 46 | $657,522 | 3967 | $7,624 |
| 87 | Jon Kitna | $32,755,600 | 50 | $655,112 | 4442 | $7,374 |
| 88 | Jeff Garcia | $36,637,500 | 58 | $631,681 | 3676 | $9,967 |
| 89 | Rex Grossman | $15,480,000 | 25 | $619,200 | 1562 | $9,910 |
| 90 | Troy Aikman | $55,537,000 | 94 | $590,819 | 4715 | $11,779 |
| 91 | Dave Brown | $15,050,000 | 26 | $578,846 | 1634 | $9,211 |
| 92 | Doug Flutie | $21,765,000 | 38 | $572,763 | 2151 | $10,119 |
| 93 | Neil O'Donnell | $30,540,000 | 55 | $555,273 | 3229 | $9,458 |
| 94 | Chris Chandler | $33,060,000 | 67 | $493,433 | 4005 | $8,255 |
| 95 | Rich Gannon | $36,463,000 | 76 | $479,776 | 4206 | $8,669 |
| 96 | Steve Beuerlein | $22,238,265 | 47 | $473,155 | 3328 | $6,682 |
| 97 | Trent Dilfer | $27,050,000 | 58 | $466,379 | 3172 | $8,528 |
| 98 | Dan Marino | $51,510,000 | 147 | $350,408 | 8358 | $6,163 |
| 99 | John Elway | $45,445,000 | 148 | $307,061 | 7250 | $6,268 |
| 100 | Jim Kelly | $28,715,000 | 101 | $284,307 | 4779 | $6,009 |
I also looked at the total number of passes thrown and figured out how much each of these QBs made per pass.
Chase Daniel is the king of making a fine living as QB2. He has earned $28.3 million in his NFL career and has exactly two NFL wins to his name. Daniel has made an insane $184K for every NFL pass he has thrown.
Among starting QBs, Sam Bradford has made the most money for the least results with Matthew Stafford a distant second (worst).
Starting QBs like Jimmy Garoppolo and Baker Mayfield should turn into much better investments IF they start producing winning seasons for their teams on a regular basis.
It is interesting to note that both Kirk Cousins and Aaron Rodgers are in the top 20 worst ROI QBs. Two former Bronco QBs are in the top 30 worst ROI - Brock Osweiler, by virtue of that huge contract Houston threw him, and Mark Sanchez have both made more than $2 million for every NFL victory they have “authored.”
I realize I have not adjusted this to constant dollars to normalize the QBs who played in the 80s and 90s with the QBs who are playing today. Someone with more of a finance/accounting background should do that since I don’t have the time nor inclination to do so.
That being said, Jim Kelly, John Elway and Dan Marino produced with a tremendous ROI relative to modern starting QBs. Elway earned $307K for every victory he authored, while Jim Kelly earned less than $300K. Of course, here in the real world where the rest of us live, $300K is a lot of money and probably more than many of us earn in a year.
However, in the NFL, if you have the skills to play QB at an elite level like 0.00000001% of the world’s population can, you could have earned a lot of money even 40 years ago in the NFL. Aaron Rodgers makes roughly $37K every time he throws a pass. John Elway earned about $6K. How’s that for inflation?
Currently Peyton Manning holds the record for most money earned by an NFL player during his career (according to Spotrac). He earned about a quarter of a billion dollars playing in the NFL (that does not include endorsement money).
His brother Eli is poised to pass him next season. Eli Manning currently has earned $235 million and has $5 million guaranteed for next season even if he is cut prior to June 1. If he makes the roster, he gets another $5 million roster bonus and can earn another $6.5 in base salary if he plays for the Giants in 2019 - bringing his salary for 2019 up to $16.5 million. That would put him in first place all-time in earning for an NFL player.
Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees and Tom Brady could all end up in that No. 1 spot in a couple of years.