How Much Drew Brees, Tom Brady and Other QBs Make Per Career TD Thrown

NFL quarterbacks don’t get paid by the touchdown, but perhaps they should. No end-zone bomb would be possible without linemen blocking, tight ends running decoy routes and running backs selling play-action fakes. But in the end, it’s touchdowns that run up scores, win games, sell jerseys and keep televisions tuned into the game and their big-dollar advertisers.

See: 50 Highest-Paid NFL Players Who Aren’t Quarterbacks

Using player salary and statistical data, GOBankingRates determined how much money each of the NFL’s 32 starting quarterbacks make per touchdown based on their career earnings divided by their total combined passing touchdowns. All stats were taken from before the start of the 2020 season.

Readers might assume that giants of the sport like Tom Brady and Drew Brees are shoo-ins for the top spots, but they’re actually in the bottom third of the list. That’s because those veterans have their 1,000-plus combined touchdowns spread out across salaries paid out over two decades each. Some young guns in the league landed massive salaries and bonuses just a year or two and a handful of touchdowns into their careers, which comes out to much more cash per end-zone toss.

Here’s a look at what the NFL’s quarterbacks earn per touchdown, from emerging superstars to iconic Hall of Famers with money to burn.

Last updated: Dec. 2, 2020

Joe Burrow

• Team: Cincinnati Bengals
• Seasons played: 0
• Career earnings: $0
• Career passing touchdowns: 0
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $0

Gardner Minshew

• Team: Jacksonville Jaguars
• Seasons played: 1
• Career earnings: $685,884
• Career passing touchdowns: 21
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $32,661

Dak Prescott

• Team: Dallas Cowboys
• Seasons played: 4
• Career earnings: $4,903,172
• Career passing touchdowns: 97
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $50,548

Lamar Jackson

• Team: Baltimore Ravens
• Seasons played: 2
• Career earnings: $6,450,981
• Career passing touchdowns: 42
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $153,595

Deshaun Watson

• Team: Houston Texans
• Seasons played: 3
• Career earnings: $11,438,115
• Career passing touchdowns: 71
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $161,100

Find Out: How These 36 Athletes Spent Their First Big Paycheck

Patrick Mahomes

• Team: Kansas City Chiefs
• Seasons played: 3
• Career earnings: $13,720,931
• Career passing touchdowns: 76
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $180,539

Ryan Fitzpatrick

• Team: Miami Dolphins
• Seasons played: 15
• Career earnings: $63,541,098
• Career passing touchdowns: 210
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $302,577

Carson Wentz

• Team: Philadelphia Eagles
• Seasons played: 4
• Career earnings: $39,676,339
• Career passing touchdowns: 97
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $409,034

Tom Brady

• Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Seasons played: 20
• Career earnings: $235,166,804
• Career passing touchdowns: 541
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $434,689

Drew Brees

• Team: New Orleans Saints
• Seasons played: 19
• Career earnings: $244,710,422
• Career passing touchdowns: 547
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $447,368

Russell Wilson

• Team: Seattle Seahawks
• Seasons played: 8
• Career earnings: $109,362,520
• Career passing touchdowns: 227
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $481,773

Baker Mayfield

• Team: Cleveland Browns
• Seasons played: 2
• Career earnings: $24,326,411
• Career passing touchdowns: 49
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $496,457

Find Out: 27 Richest No. 1 NFL Draft Picks

Derek Carr

• Team: Las Vegas Raiders
• Seasons played: 6
• Career earnings: $72,010,601
• Career passing touchdowns: 143
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $503,571

Mitchell Trubisky

• Team: Chicago Bears
• Seasons played: 3
• Career earnings: $24,635,710
• Career passing touchdowns: 48
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $513,244

Josh Allen

• Team: Buffalo Bills
• Seasons played: 2
• Career earnings: $15,460,561
• Career passing touchdowns: 30
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $515,352

Drew Lock

• Team: Denver Broncos
• Seasons played: 1
• Career earnings: $3,613,776
• Career passing touchdowns: 7
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $516,254

Teddy Bridgewater

• Team: Carolina Panthers
• Seasons played: 6
• Career earnings: $20,100,283
• Career passing touchdowns: 38
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $528,955

Ryan Tannehill

• Team: Tennessee Titans
• Seasons played: 8
• Career earnings: $77,975,979
• Career passing touchdowns: 145
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $537,765

Philip Rivers

• Team: Indianapolis Colts
• Seasons played: 16
• Career earnings: $218,917,656
• Career passing touchdowns: 397
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $551,430

See: Which Athletes Earn the Most Per Hour?

Jared Goff

• Team: Los Angeles Rams
• Seasons played: 4
• Career earnings: $49,677,990
• Career passing touchdowns: 87
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $571,011

Aaron Rodgers

• Team: Green Bay Packers
• Seasons played: 15
• Career earnings: $219,364,529
• Career passing touchdowns: 364
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $602,650

Sam Darnold

• Team: New York Jets
• Seasons played: 2
• Career earnings: $22,413,233
• Career passing touchdowns: 36
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $622,590

Ben Roethlisberger

• Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
• Seasons played: 16
• Career earnings: $227,286,864
• Career passing touchdowns: 363
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $626,135

Kirk Cousins

• Team: Minnesota Vikings
• Seasons played: 8
• Career earnings: $100,640,630
• Career passing touchdowns: 155
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $649,294

Cam Newton

• Team: New England Patriots
• Seasons played: 9
• Career earnings: $121,393,521
• Career passing touchdowns: 182
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $666,997

Matt Ryan

• Team: Atlanta Falcons
• Seasons played: 12
• Career earnings: $223,472,535
• Career passing touchdowns: 321
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $696,176

Daniel Jones

• Team: New York Giants
• Seasons played: 1
• Career earnings: $17,179,768
• Career passing touchdowns: 24
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $715,824

Matthew Stafford

• Team: Detroit Lions
• Seasons played: 11
• Career earnings: $210,978,969
• Career passing touchdowns: 256
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $824,137

Tyrod Taylor

• Team: Los Angeles Chargers
• Seasons played: 9
• Career earnings: $49,301,548
• Career passing touchdowns: 54
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $912,992

Kyler Murray

• Team: Arizona Cardinals
• Seasons played: 1
• Career earnings: $24,119,294
• Career passing touchdowns: 20
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $1,205,965

Dwayne Haskins Jr.

• Team: Washington Football Team
• Seasons played: 1
• Career earnings: $8,999,808
• Career passing touchdowns: 7
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $1,285,687

Jimmy Garoppolo

• Team: San Francisco 49ers
• Seasons played: 6
• Career earnings: $64,058,637
• Career passing touchdowns: 44
• Amount made per passing touchdown: $1,455,878

More From GOBankingRates

• 30 Ways To Dig Yourself Out of Debt
• Are You Spending More Than the Average American on 25 Everyday Items?
• Guns and 32 Other Things You Definitely Do NOT Need To Buy During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Methodology: GOBankingRates used ESPN’s 2020 NFL depth charts for all 32 teams to find the starting quarterback for every NFL team in order to find how much each quarterback has made per career touchdown thrown. Once the 32 starting quarterbacks were found, GOBankingRates found the following factors for each: (1) seasons played as sourced from Spotrac; (2) total career earnings as sourced from Spotrac; (3) total career passing touchdowns as sourced from Pro Football Reference; and (4) dollar ($) per passing touchdown found by dividing factor (2) by (3). All data were collected on and up to date as of Aug. 24, 2020.

About the Author

Andrew Lisa

Andrew Lisa has been writing professionally since 2001. An award-winning writer, Andrew was formerly one of the youngest nationally distributed columnists for the largest newspaper syndicate in the country, the Gannett News Service. He worked as the business section editor for amNewYork, the most widely distributed newspaper in Manhattan, and worked as a copy editor for TheStreet.com, a financial publication in the heart of Wall Street’s investment community in New York City.

Read More