Aaron Rodgers’ New Contract Could Make Him NFL’s Highest Career Earner

Aaron Rodgers may always be chasing Tom Brady’s record seven Super Bowl victories, but now that he has agreed to a price for his return to the Green Bay Packers, he has a chance to one-up the greatest quarterback of all time with his career on-field earnings.

On Tuesday, Rodgers and the Packers agreed to a three-year, $150 million contract extension that will keep him in Green Bay through the 2026 season and pay him a $40.8 million roster bonus upfront. If the 38-year-old four-time MVP plays it out in full, including the two remaining years on his existing deal, he’s expected to have earned $495 million on the field throughout his career, dwarfing Brady’s current $293 million mark, according to Spotrac.

It almost didn’t happen. Rodgers’ reported dissatisfaction with the team hung like a black cloud over the organization. His return now offers the chance to expand his already Hall of Fame-worthy legacy in the city where he started his career. Since being drafted 24th overall in 2005, Rodgers has passed for 55,360 yards and 449 touchdowns and led Green Bay to a victory at Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

On top of the $264 million Rodgers has already earned on the gridiron in his 17-year career, Forbes estimates he has added at least another $85 million in endorsements for a total of $350 million in career earnings. Rodgers has become a fixture on TV screens over the last few years, appearing in State Farm commercials, serving as a guest host on Jeopardy! and playing in July’s edition of The Match, an exhibition golf event that featured Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Brady. Those appearances and partnerships with brands like Adidas and Fanatics led to Rodgers earning a career-best $11 million off the field last season, according to Forbes’ estimates. He ranked fourth on the 2021 Forbes list of the NFL’s highest-paid players. (Rodgers’ controversial comments on Covid-19 and his vaccination status have negatively affected his public image, however. In November, Wisconsin-based healthcare system Prevea Health ended its nine-year partnership with the quarterback.)

Rodgers’ success as a pitchman still pales in comparison with Brady, who collected an NFL-record $45 million off the field last season. That pushed Brady’s career endorsement count to $160 million and his total earnings to roughly $450 million, a record figure that will continue to rise in the wake of Brady’s return to football. Brady is scheduled to earn $25 million including bonuses this season, although his contract is expected to be reworked in the coming months. In total, Rodgers’ earnings could surpass $600 million by the time he hangs up his pads, putting him on track to be the NFL’s all-time earnings champion. For now, at least.

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is scheduled to have earned a total of $491 million on the field by the end of the ten-year, $450 million contract he signed in 2020. Mahomes, 26 years old and already a Super Bowl champion, earned $22 million in endorsements last season by Forbes’ count. When his deal expires, Mahomes will enter free agency at age 36, and if he can stay healthy and follow the paths of Rodgers and Brady, he could land another lucrative contract.