2022 biggest NFL contracts by position and highest-paid players
Which players have the biggest NFL contracts by position? Who are the highest-paid NFL players? We take a look at every position group.
NFL contracts are already big, and they are only going to get bigger. In 2021, the league signed an 11-year contract with its television partners for a deal worth $133 billion through 2033.
In other words, every individual slice of the pie is going to be much more valuable in the coming years as the salary cap exponentially increases. As of the 2022 NFL season, the salary cap is set at $208.2 million, a number that could increase to over $220 million or more by 2023 and as the effects of COVID dissipate across the league, that number will grow substantially in the coming years.
Some of the biggest NFL contracts in 2022 will look like some of the biggest bargains just five years from now. Let’s take a look at the biggest NFL contracts at every position group across the league.
Biggest NFL contracts at the quarterback position
Total Money: Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs (10 years, $450 million)
Nobody blames the Kansas City Chiefs for signing Patrick Mahomes to a legendary 10-year contract worth $450 million. It’s good that Mahomes loves playing in Kansas City because that’s a long time to lock into any deal with any team in any professional sports league.
Considering all of the aforementioned information about the salary cap increasing, it won’t be long before Mahomes’ contract is the biggest bargain in league history. At $45 million AAV, he’s already been easily surpassed by multiple quarterbacks.
Not that Mahomes will be hurting in his bank account ever again, but he could have signed a four-or-five-year deal with the Chiefs and reset the market before the age of 30 again.
Average annual value: Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers ($50.27M per year)
Speaking of resetting the market, how about Aaron Rodgers resetting the market in terms of average annual value into his late 30s?
Rodgers, like Tom Brady, appears to be on the path to defeat Father Time and has now won back-to-back MVP awards.
His level of dominance has only amplified in recent years although the Packers have not been able to get to the Super Bowl again.
After all of the drama with Green Bay over the last two years, Rodgers got an incredible and unprecedented contract to stay with the Packers. Will he get another deal or will he play out the life of this contract and then retire?
Highest guarantee: Deshaun Watson, Cleveland Browns ($230 million)
The Cleveland Browns not only won the Deshaun Watson sweepstakes, but they also won the opportunity to pay him an obscene amount of money, more guaranteed cash than any NFL player has seen on a single contract ever.
Considering the off-field issues with Watson right now, the $230 million is staggering.
He beat Josh Allen’s guaranteed cash by $80 million on the same length of a deal (five years).
What have the Browns done here to the QB market? How soon will another player top this? Will anyone in the near future?
This decision by Cleveland has complicated QB talks for the foreseeable future considering the gap between Watson and all other players.