All-Time NFL Earners by Position
Found this fascinating and thought my fellow nerds might as well. (Cool kids, click elsewhere ;)
from Spotrac:
All-Time NFL Positional Career Earners
It's fun to see it like this -- like what is the second-highest earning position after QB? Why should Matthew Stafford (0 rings) pass Tom Brady (a plethora) any time soon? Why have I never heard of the #1 punter all-time? Etc.
But the real fun is found in the weeds--clicking through each position leads you to the top 100 all-time, and how have you lived this long without knowing that BJ Askew is the #29 all-time paid FB in history? (also he's in your bushes right now, if you know that story too)
What you won't find is why Ben Mason is classified as TE and so not currently the #97 FB all time.
Seeing the OP title, I thought something a little different, per Tony Soprano's definition of an earner. And I think THAT would be interesting. Which players delivered the greatest ROI.
(Sorry, businesser, so it's how I almost always think.)
Well, Matthew Stafford does have one ring, but your point still stands.
Interesting info. Thanks for sharing!
Stafford also had the advantage of coming into the league before the rookie salary scale, so he was among the league's highest earners for his entire career. Brady started earlier, but was on a near-minimum contract for his first few years, and took some discounts later in his career because he was rolling around in Gisele's money.
Rolling around in Gisele’s…. HeyOOOOOO
good catch. but to me it's like verlander series rings ;)
QB Ryan Fitzpatrick (high-#30's, $82 million) has always been a hero of mine for maximizing one's talent!
Yeah, it's nice to finally see a successful Harvard grad.
I have to raise that with Chase Daniel. 13 years in the league. Only 5 starts. Only 270 career pass attempts. $41 million.
The secret to being a backup in the NFL is to never be good enough that anyone would rather you take over for the starter: "We can't bench X because our backup is Y" but also competent enough where the team/fans will say "we'll be okay for a game or two with Y at QB." Also in this boat is our friend Chad Henne, although he did get quite a bit of run as a starter early in his career.
Sam Bradford at $130M is no slouch either in terms of not doing much in his playing career but cashing in at the right times.
Andrew Brandt explains Bradford, and Daniels, in the Business of Sports Hall of Fame from 2 years ago.
https://www.si.com/nfl/2021/07/13/business-of-football-hall-of-fame-sam-bradford-chase-daniel-darrelle-revis
As to your rings comment -- it's certainly one of the most important statistics, but football is a team game. Are Trent Dilfer and Joe Flacco more valuable QBs than Marino, Cunningham, Kelly? Also a huge function of this list is time (both longevity and era) -- Brady is only at the top because he had such a long career and was still commanding top dollar towards the end of his career where QBs are commanding $50M+ annually. If QBs like Mahomes, Hurts and Prescott (hell maybe even Goff) can play for 15+ years, they all will probably pass Brady and Stafford
Edit - somebody has already pointed out that you are wrong about Stafford
Imagine being a long snapper and earning north of $15 million.
This list is partially flawed, at least as the place kickers are concerned. The rankings do not include Jason Hanson. He played 21 seasons (I believe) with the Lions. He should easily be one of the highest paid kickers of all time.
Good catch -- even with those 21 seasons, doesn't look like he cracks the top 10 with $28.9M earned over his career
So the top punter made roughly 45k per punt over his career. Nice.
Kinda meaningless unless adjusted for inflation.
Question I came here to ask…if these numbers aren’t adjusted for inflation, they’re meaningless…
These figures are in nominal dollars, which makes them relatively meaningless unless you adjust for inflation.
what basket of goods would one use to create a CPI-NFL? Ferraris? Expensive watches?
The rookie contracts of some of these players were 25-30 years ago.
Big macs
Does it make sense to list Woodson as a Safety? Awesome that he did so well, but he only played a few seasons as a Safety? Right?
True, but better #1 Safety than number...eh whatever it's late...CB?
Eli made more than Peyton
Henne is in top 100