Josh Allen And Patrick Mahomes Set Off A Bright Future For The NFL, And Their Bank Accounts

You could see every ounce of disbelief on Josh Allen’s face.

With just 13 seconds left on the game clock, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes snatched away what had seemed like a shocking—and certain—come-from-behind upset for Allen and his Buffalo Bills. Thanks to the quirky rules of NFL overtime, Allen never stepped foot on the field again, watching from the sidelines as Mahomes delivered the final blow by threading the needle on a strike to tight end Travis Kelce in the back corner of the end zone.

It was a devastating loss, but not without a consolation prize.

In March, the Bills’ star quarterback will collect a $42.4 million bonus as part of the six-year, $258 million contract he signed in 2021. It was the second-largest pact in NFL history, according to Spotrac, trailing only Mahomes’ ten-year, $450 million megadeal from 2020. The paydays put the two quarterbacks in line to become two of the highest career on-field earners the league has ever seen.

For almost 15 years, the Tom Brady-Peyton Manning tug of war dominated prime time, delivering some of the most highly anticipated matchups the league had to offer. Their star power, and success, gave them the leverage to strike massive deals as the league pivoted the sport more toward passing. In 18 NFL seasons, Peyton Manning pulled in $249 million in on-field earnings, $63 million of which came in his post-Indianapolis Colts swoon with the Denver Broncos. Brady, through 22 seasons, has $293 million on the field under his belt, with just above $25 million on the books for next year if he chooses to return.

The 26-year-old Mahomes and the 25-year-old Allen are poised to blow past both of those veteran throwers. Factoring in their existing career on-field earnings and the total value of their current contracts, both Allen ($303 million estimated) and Mahomes ($491 million estimated) are already on pace to surpass both Brady and Manning. With quarterbacks of late playing deep into their 30s, the pair of young stars could be in line for another significant payday as well. Allen will be only 32 when his contract expires in 2028 while Mahomes will just have turned 36 in 2031. The windfall might come sooner, too, since NFL players often restructure their contracts before reaching the end. (These earnings figures exclude endorsements.)

It has everything to do with the game’s monster TV ratings. The NFL signed nearly $113 billion in media rights deals in March, representing an 82% average annual increase over its existing agreements. Teams receive equal shares of media revenue, which will grow from $220 million per team this season to $377 million in 2032, and that is without factoring in the NFL’s Sunday Ticket deal with DirecTV, which is worth $1.5 billion annually, expires in 2022 and has yet to be renegotiated. The result? A rising salary cap, giving teams more room to shell out for transformative players like Allen and Mahomes.

No matter how the all-star drama plays out, it’s good news for football, which in recent years has cemented its place as the dominant league in U.S. sports. (The collective value of all 32 NFL franchises, almost $112 billion, tops the next-biggest league, the NBA, by $38 billion.) Sunday’s unforgettable matchup suggests that things could get even more exciting—and lucrative—for the players driving it, even with aging stars like Brady and Aaron Rodgers in the twilight of their careers.