Have ever guessed who are the 2021 highest paid NFL players in world and how much they are in a year both on and off pitch. It is amazing to their huge annual earnings in this article. All figures derived from Forbes (the link source is at the bottom of the article).
2021 highest paid NFL players. Image credit Forbes
The world’s most lucrative sports league is riding the momentum of monster new media rights and betting deals, but NFL players are not yet sharing in the spoils. While the average team value is up 14% to a record $3.5 billion this year, the decline in game-day revenue from ticket, concessions and merchandise sales amid the pandemic led the NFL to cut its salary cap for the first time in a decade, to $182.5 million for 2021, from $198.2 million last year.
Here are the 2021 Top 10 NFL highest paid players for
10. Leonard Williams – $26.2M
The Giants slapped the franchise tag on Leonard Williams for the second straight year, but the sides finally agreed on a long-term contract in March, keeping him in New York on a three-year, $63 million deal with $45 million guaranteed, including a $22.5 million signing bonus. Since the Giants spent two mid-round draft picks to acquire the defensive lineman from the crosstown-rival Jets in 2019, Williams, now 27, has been perhaps their most effective pass-rusher, with 11.5 sacks last season. He takes the tenth spot of the 2021 highest paid NFL players in world.
9. Jared Goff – $27.7M
The Los Angeles Rams dealt Jared Goff to Detroit in March after a disappointing 2020, and he’ll take over as the Lions’ quarterback with a restructured contract paying him $5.7 million in salary and a $20 million bonus in 2021. The 26-year-old, who will be looking to return to his Pro Bowl form of 2017 and 2018, is partnered with brands like Banana Republic, Fanatics and Red Bull and uses his JG16 clothing line to raise money for charity, helping Warren Lane Elementary School in Inglewood, California, build a new library.
8. Trevor Lawrence – $30.8M
Trevor Lawrence, this year’s first overall draft pick, was seen as the most marketable NFL prospect in years after three exceptional seasons at Clemson that featured three College Football Playoff appearances and a runner-up finish for the Heisman Trophy. Despite landing with the Jacksonville Jaguars—a small-market team with little track record of success—the 21-year-old quarterback has had no problem piling up partnerships with at least ten brands, including Adidas, Gatorade and Fanatics. He’s also become one of the major celebrity voices in the world of cryptocurrency, investing his signing bonus in crypto through Blockfolio, an app now rebranded under the FTX label.
6. Jonathan Allen – $31.2M
The Washington Football Team locked up Jonathan Allen, a 2017 first-round pick and budding star at defensive tackle, in July with a four-year, $72 million extension that included a $30 million signing bonus. The 26-year-old, who has small deals with sponsors like Anheuser-Busch and Ubisoft, was his team’s nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award last season, highlighting his work with homeless youth.
Trent Williams, traded to San Francisco last year, signed a six-year, $138 million deal in March to stay with the 49ers. Of the contracts signed this year, only Dak Prescott did better with his signing bonus than Williams’ $30.1 million. The 33-year-old offensive tackle is light on traditional endorsements but profits from a stable of apartment complexes and single-family homes he owns. He has also been active with NBA Top Shot, trading the NFT collectibles and buying a small stake in the marketplace’s parent, Dapper Labs.
Aaron Rodgers is staying in Green Bay after all, emerging with a reworked contract from an off-season of drama in which he expressed frustration with Packers management and stirred speculation that he might retire rather than return to the team. The 37-year-old quarterback is partnered with brands like Adidas, State Farm and Fanatics and is a cofounder of Online Sports Database, a website modeled after IMDb.com that launched in April and aims to offer athlete profiles including salary and endorsement information. Rodgers remained a fixture on TV screens through the NFL off-season, taking a turn as a Jeopardy! guest host and playing in the July edition of The Match, the exhibition golf event in which he and Bryson DeChambeau beat Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson.
After signing a ten-year, $450 million extension with the Kansas City Chiefs last year—far and away the NFL’s biggest contract ever—Patrick Mahomes had the deal restructured this off-season to help his team create space under the new salary cap, with $21.7 million becoming a bonus for 2021. The quarterback, who turns 26 in two weeks, started ramping up his endorsements after winning Super Bowl LIV in February 2020 and counts Adidas, State Farm and Oakley among his partners. Mahomes, who added a small stake in MLB’s Kansas City Royals last year, became a minority owner with MLS’s Sporting Kansas City in July.
Just a year or two ago, Tom Brady was making $12 million a year off the field. Now, after winning a seventh Super Bowl title in his first season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and making his partnerships more of a focus, the 44-year-old quarterback is hauling in almost four times as much. Beyond his endorsements, which include Fanatics and Under Armour in addition to his huge new deal with FTX, Brady has the TB12 supplements line and a media company, 199 Productions, as well as an NFT platform, Autograph, that he launched this summer. He also reportedly picked up $3.4 million in playing-contract incentives for his performance in 2020 and the Bucs’ championship (a number not reflected in his earnings for this list).
1. Dak Prescott – $87M
Dak Prescott’s $66 million signing bonus from the Dallas Cowboys beat the $57.5 million mark for a single-payment bonus that Aaron Rodgers had set in 2018. The 28-year-old quarterback owns a significant stake in four Walk-On’s restaurants in Texas and is up to $12 million in endorsements, including a major new deal with NFT platform Ethernity. A jump from Adidas to Jordan Brand in June also supplied a sizable raise. He takes the top spot of the 2021 highest paid NFL players in world.
Source: Forbes