For six years, Patrick Mahomes had held the record for the largest NFL playing contract ever signed—$450 million over ten seasons—but the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, who has won three Super Bowls and two regular-season MVP Awards, recently found his paychecks lagging behind some far less accomplished passers’. In 2024, for instance, his total cash from playing salary and bonuses ranked him ninth at his position, and in terms of average annual value, Mahomes’ contract was tied for 14th among quarterbacks by the start of last season.

An extension in June solved that problem. The reworked agreement, carrying a total value of nearly $505 million over the next eight seasons, set a new league mark with its annual average of $63.1 million and will pay the 30-year-old Mahomes $56.8 million in 2026—the best on-field figure in the NFL.

Of course, even as his playing salary drifted to the middle of the quarterback pack, Mahomes stood as the NFL’s highest-paid player last season thanks to off-field income that is in another stratosphere from anyone in football aside from his Chiefs teammate Travis Kelce, now married to billionaire pop superstar Taylor Swift. As Mahomes opens his tenth pro season on Monday, three days ahead of his 31st birthday, he is poised to earn an estimated $30 million from endorsements and other business endeavors this year.

The $86.8 million in total pretax income keeps Mahomes at the top of the NFL earnings ranking for the second straight year, almost $14 million ahead of Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who is banking an estimated $73 million to land at No. 2.

They are followed by two other star quarterbacks, the Detroit Lions’ Jared Goff ($60 million) and the Philadelphia Eagles’ Jalen Hurts ($56.5 million). Rounding out the top five is Tua Tagovailoa, whose one-year contract with the Atlanta Falcons will pay him just $1.2 million but who is still owed major money from the Miami Dolphins after he was released in March, pushing the 28-year-old signal caller’s estimated total income this year to $56 million.

In all, this year’s ten highest-paid NFL players are set to collect an estimated $598 million before taxes and agent fees, up 5% from 2025’s $571 million.

That total falls short of 2024’s record $693 million, but that is in large part a function of timing. The cash flow of NFL contracts tends to be frontloaded, with large signing bonuses—particularly for quarterbacks—and 2024 saw Dak Prescott, Goff, Jordan Love and Kirk Cousins sign massive new deals. By contrast, 2026 was a relatively quiet off-season for quarterbacks, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Baker Mayfield the only passer to get a nine-figure contract besides Mahomes.

A better sign of the state of NFL pay might be the earnings ranking’s cutoff. This year, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Daniel Jones slots in at No. 10 with an estimated $51.5 million, nearly double the $26.2 million threshold from five years ago and 9% better than 2024’s $47.2 million, the previous high.

And while all ten of this year’s highest-paid players are quarterbacks—only the second clean sweep in the 17-year history of the Forbes NFL list, after 2022—an 8% increase in the salary cap, to $301 million, led to contract records around the league. In terms of average annual value, 13 other positions established new marks this year: running back, wide receiver, left tackle, right tackle, guard, center, edge........

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