There are some disastrous quarterback contracts across the NFL. Let's look at the four worst ahead of the 2024 NFL Season. No front office executive is perfect, and that us evident with how many awful contracts have been signed in the NFL.
This does not stop with the QB position, the most important in sports and the highest-paid in the NFL. Some QBs earned the huge deals they signed, but others are just not looking like wise investments at this point.
Let's rank the four worst QB contracts in the NFL.
NFL power rankings: These are the 4 worst quarterback contracts in the league
4. Kirk Cousins - Atlanta Falcons ($45m per year)
The Atlanta Falcons signed Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal worth $180 million, which is $45 million per year. Not only is this an overpay for an aging QB coming off of a major injury, but the contract looks a lot worse when you factor in the team took Michael Penix Jr with the eighth pick in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Is Kirk Cousins now just the highest-paid bridge QB in the history of the NFL? I am a huge Cousins fan, but even this contract was overkill. Something around $30 million per year would have been much easier to stomach. GM Terry Fontenot just totally botched the handling of this QB room.
3. Jalen Hurts - Philadelphia Eagles ($51m per year)
Jalen Hurts has played four seasons in the NFL and has one season of note. He has rushed for 41 touchdowns across his NFL career, but he's a minus passer and has thrown 67 touchdowns against 34 interceptions. Hurts just simply needs to play better. Him running around and racking up yardage and touchdowns on the ground does not make up for being a below-average passer.
And he's being paid like an elite QB, when he is very clearly not even in the top-10. Sure, Jalen Hurts could be a great fantasy football option, but he's not an elite quarterback and honestly might not be more than an average one when you look at the big picture.
2. Daniel Jones - New York Giants ($40m per year)
A fireable offense by GM Joe Schoen was giving Daniel Jones a $160 million contract last offseason. Already looking like a disaster of a deal, the Giants can get out of the deal at the end of the 2024 NFL Season, so it's not like this is the worst thing ever. But to give Jones this contract after a pedestrian 2022 season was insanity.
Jones may not even win the starting QB job over Drew Lock, who is an average backup. Daniel Jones is heading toward being a backup QB in the NFL one day, and that is exactly who Joe Schoen paid $40 million per year for. There is no excusing this deal.
1. Deshaun Watson - Cleveland Browns ($46m per year)
Easily the worst contract in the NFL and maybe all of sports, the Cleveland Browns gave Deshaun Watson a fully-guaranteed deal that pays him $46 million per season. They're stuck with this deal for a few more years, and Watson has not looked good through two seasons, tossing just 14 touchdowns against nine interceptions.
The Browns should actually be ashamed of themselves for giving Deshaun Watson this deal, and it's coming back to bite them in the rear end. Somehow, though, they made the postseason in 2023, and that is a huge credit to their suffocating defense.