The salary cap keeps climbing, the quarterback market keeps resetting, and the top of the NFL pay scale now clears $60M a year. Ranked by average annual contract value, these are football's biggest earners.
The Money Table
Ranked by average annual value (AAV) of current contracts, per public contract databases:
| # | Player | Position | Team | AAV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dak Prescott | QB | Dallas Cowboys | $60.0M |
| 2 | Joe Burrow | QB | Cincinnati Bengals | $55.0M |
| 3 | Jordan Love | QB | Green Bay Packers | $55.0M |
| 4 | Trevor Lawrence | QB | Jacksonville Jaguars | $55.0M |
| 5 | Tua Tagovailoa | QB | Miami Dolphins | $53.1M |
| 6 | Jared Goff | QB | Detroit Lions | $53.0M |
| 7 | Justin Herbert | QB | LA Chargers | $52.5M |
| 8 | Lamar Jackson | QB | Baltimore Ravens | $52.0M |
| 9 | Jalen Hurts | QB | Philadelphia Eagles | $51.0M |
| 10 | Micah Parsons | EDGE | Dallas Cowboys | $47.0M |
Reading the Market
It's a quarterback list with one gatecrasher: nine of the top ten are QBs, because the position's franchise value makes every negotiation a market reset. Micah Parsons' edge-rusher deal breaking the non-QB ceiling is the structural story of this cycle — pass rush is now priced as the second most valuable commodity in football.
AAV isn't take-home: guaranteed money is the number agents actually fight over. Deshaun Watson's fully-guaranteed $230M remains the outlier owners refuse to repeat, which is why 'guaranteed at signing' headlines matter more than AAV rankings.
The cap context: at a ~$280M salary cap, a $60M quarterback consumes over 21% of his team's payroll — the perennial roster-building debate that decides Super Bowl windows, and a genuine factor in season-long futures betting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is the highest paid NFL player?
By average annual value, Dak Prescott at $60M per year — the first $60M AAV contract in league history.
Who is the highest paid non-quarterback?
Micah Parsons, whose edge-rusher contract broke the non-QB market at $47M per year.
