Projecting the value of Baker Mayfield’s new Cleveland Browns contract

Values around the league

The tabular data used for the graph on the Twitter post attached on the main page of this story is shown below along with some notes. Additional columns show whether the quarterback in question been to the Super Bowl and whether his team has actually won it all.

As noted previously, some of the salaries of some of the veterans, such as Ben Roethlisberger and Taysom Hill, are distorted because they are being partially paid with future year dollars. That is, the length of time they will play on the contract does not match the length of time they will actually play on the same contract. That is a new level of insanity in vogue this season.

Tom Brady’s salary also poses an ethical accounting dilemma. Everyone knows he is one of the top quarterbacks in the NFL, maybe the most dangerous in the NFL during the playoffs. Brady is rich enough that he does not care that much about extracting his maximum dollar value.

He probably believes that by keeping his salary low, the team can sign an extra free agent or two (someone like Antonio Brown) which increases the probability of winning the Super Bowl, which is something that he cares more about. Thus getting paid more than Tom Brady does not mean that the player is actually better or more valuable than Tom Brady.

Brady’s contract also has future dollars built into it, so that his take-home pay is actually much higher than the $25 million dollar figure would indicate. He might actually play three more years, but if so, his contract will still be adjusted by the time gets there.

Table of Top 40 Quarterback Salaries

Rank NAME                Annual Avg Pay   Team         AGE   Been to SB? Won SB?
1    Patrick Mahomes    $45,000,000     Chiefs            26         YES           YES
2    Dak Prescott             $40,000,000     Cowboys       28          NO            NO
3    Deshaun Watson     $39,000,000     Texans           26          NO            NO
4    Russell Wilson          $35,000,000     Seahawks     33         YES          YES
5    Aaron Rodgers         $33,500,000      Packers         38         YES          YES
6    Jared Goff                  $33,500,000      Lions              27         YES           NO
7    Kirk Cousins              $33,000,000      Vikings          33          NO            NO
8    Carson Wentz           $32,000,000      Colts              29       YES (IR)    YES (IR)
9    Matt Ryan                 $30,000,000      Falcons          36        YES    UM, ALMOST
10  Ryan Tannehill         $29,500,000      Titans            33         NO            NO
11 Jimmy Garoppolo     $27,500,000      49ers             30       YES       NOT QUITE
12 Matt Stafford            $27,000,000      Rams             33        NO            NO
13 Derek Carr                  $25,005,000      Raiders         30        NO             NO
14 Tom Brady                 $25,000,000      Bucs               44      YES         A FEW
15 Ben Roethlisberger $14,000,000      Steelers         39      YES            YES
16 Teddy Bridgewater $11,500,000      Broncos         29        NO             NO
17 Taysom Hill               $10,500,000      Saints             31       NO              NO
18 Ryan Fitzpatrick      $10,000,000      Washington  39       NO              NO
19 Andy Dalton             $10,000,000       Bears             34       NO              NO
20 Trevor Lawrence        $9,198,398       Jaguars         22       NO              NO
21 Joe Burrow                  $9,047,534       Bengals        25       NO              NO
22 Kyler Murray              $8,789,661       Cardinals      24       NO              NO
23 Zach Wilson               $8,787,695        Jets                22       NO              NO
24 Trey Lance                  $8,526,338       49ers             21       NO              NO
25 Baker Mayfield         $8,170,745       Browns          26       NO              NO
26 Nick Foles                  $8,000,000       Bears              32      YES            YES
27 Tua Tagovailoa         $7,568,859       Dolphins         23       NO             NO
28 Sam Darnold            $7,561,924       Panthers        24       NO             NO
29 Justin Herbert          $6,644,689       Chargers        23       NO             NO
30 Daniel Jones             $6,416,014       Giants             24       NO             NO
31 Case Keenum          $6,000,000       Browns           33       NO             NO
32 Jameis Winston      $5,500,000       Saints              27       NO             NO
33 Tyrod Taylor             $5,500,000      Texans             32       NO             NO
34 Josh Allen                 $5,295,759       Bills                  25      NO             NO
35 Cam Newton           $5,100,000       Patriots           32      NO             NO
36 Jacoby Brissett       $5,000,000       Dolphins          29 BACKUP  BACKUP
37 Mason Rudolph     $4,985,199       Steelers           26       NO            NO
38 Justin Fields            $4,717,988        Bears               22       NO           NO
39 Mac Jones               $3,896,594        Patriots           23       NO            NO

40 Marcus Mariota     $3,500,000        Raiders           28        NO           NO