With how much money is funneling through NFL teams now, pretty much every time a top-tier player signs a contract it’s “the highest for a player at his position in NFL history.”
Already this offseason we’ve seen Todd Gurley ink an extension to make him the league’s highest paid running back ever, and most recently Odell Beckham Jr. became the highest paid wide receiver in NFL history — which may be short lived as Julio Jones is in contract talks with the Falcons. However, no one makes money like quarterbacks in the NFL, so when they sign a deal, they often become the highest paid player in NFL history.
That’s the case with Aaron Rodgers, who has reportedly agreed to a new 4-year, $134 million extension with the Green Bay Packers that will pay him a staggering amount of money up front.
The #Packers and QB Aaron Rodgers have agreed to terms on a 4-year extension worth $134M, source said. He gets more than $80M by March. A huge first year payout for their star
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) August 29, 2018
Packers’ QB Aaron Rodgers is signing his four-year, $134 million extension “in a few minutes,” per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) August 29, 2018
Schefter broke down the deal further, noting that he’s getting nearly $103 million of that $134 million guaranteed based on how quickly he’s getting it. With NFL contracts, the guaranteed number is always the most important, because for years we’ve heard about $100 million contracts for quarterbacks, but very, very rarely do they ever see out the full deal in order to make all that money — see: Vick, Michael.
Rodgers getting this handsome of a deal and this much guaranteed money is not a surprise, especially considering the monster deal Kirk Cousins got earlier this year from a division rival. In the NFL, timing of when you get your next deal is very important and Rodgers just set the market for an elite quarterback in the league moving forward.
