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The 10 NFL Players Who Make the Most Money From Endorsements

September 8, 2022

3 min Read

Written by Jami Farkas

Edited by Ashleigh Ray

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It pays to be an NFL quarterback.

Signal callers dominate the list of NFL players who appear on Forbes’ roster of the 50 highest-paid athletes in 2022. Eight quarterbacks in all appear on the list, and while the QB generally is the face of his franchise, corporate America will pay handsomely, too, to have stars at other positions endorse their products.

The top-earning NFL star on the list shouldn’t be a surprise. He achieved NFL legend status long ago. What is a surprise is the distance in earnings between him and the No. 2 player in terms of earnings. Read on to see the list.

10. T.J. Watt

Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
Position: OLB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 50
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $1 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $37.6 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $36.6 million

7. (tie) Stefon Diggs

Team: Buffalo Bills
Position: WR
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 45
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $2.5 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $38.7 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $36.2 million

7. (tie) Kirk Cousins

Team: Minnesota Vikings
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 25
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $2.5 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $48.5 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $46 million

7. (tie) Matthew Stafford

Team: Los Angeles Rams
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 13
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $2.5 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $72.3 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $69.8 million

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6. Josh Allen

Team: Buffalo Bills
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 16
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $4 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $67 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $63 million

5. Aaron Rodgers

Team: Green Bay Packers
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 14
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $11 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $68 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $57 million

4. Dak Prescot

Team: Dallas Cowboys
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 41
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $12 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $39.4 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $27.4 million

3. Russell Wilson

Team: Denver Broncos
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 46
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $14 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $38 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $24 million

2. Patrick Mahomes

Team: Kansas City Chiefs
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 24
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $20 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $49.1 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $29.1 million

1. Tom Brady

Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Position: QB
Overall Forbes Highest-Paid Athlete Rank: 9
Endorsement Money, Past 12 Months: $52 million
Total Earnings, Past 12 Months: $83.9 million
Total Salary/Winnings, Past 12 Months: $31.9 million

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George Malone contributed to the reporting for this article.

Methodology: In order to discover the 10 NFL players who make the most money from endorsements, GOBankingRates looked at Forbes’ “Highest Paid Athletes of 2022” data and isolated all NFL players included. With these 14 NFL players isolated, GOBankingRates found the following data or each: (1) past 12 months money earned from endorsements; (2) total overall money earned in the past 12 months; and (3) past 12 months money earned from salary/winnings. All players with above $1 million earned in endorsements were included in the final list. GOBankingRates also used Pro-Football Reference to find supplemental data on each player such as (4) team played for and (5) position. All data was collected on and up to date as of August 25, 2022.