NFL starting quarterback salaries 2024: Who makes the most?

The 2024 NFL season is underway! The Kansas City Chiefs are hunting for for a Super Bowl three-peat, but other teams are vying to knock future Hall-of-Famer quarterback Patrick Mahomes from his perch with their very own talented QBs.

While some quarterbacks, equivalent to Brock Purdy of the San Francisco 49ers, are a fine buy (because he’s still in his rookie contract), other teams are spending heavily for their quarterbacks to get them to “the massive game.”

The Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, and Jacksonville Jaguars have never won a Super Bowl. Still, they're spending tens of millions of greenbacks on average this year for their quarterbacks to get them to a championship.

Quarterbacks with lucrative contracts get signed amid self assurance from the team’s management that their signal callers will get them a championship ring. This season’s starters encompass 7 Heisman Trophy winners.

Find out how much starting quarterbacks on the NFL’s 32 teams have end as much as be paid on average this year, in line with data from Over the Cap, which compiles contract information.

32. Brock Purdy

• Team: San Francisco 49ers
• Age: 24
• 2024 average salary: $934,253
• four-year contract total: $3,737,012
• Years into contract: 3
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 3

Purdy led the 49ers to Super Bowl LVIII, but they lost to the Chiefs. He is eligible to negotiate for a new contract in 2025, which some reports say has to be would becould alright be now not not as much as $60 million a season.

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31. Russell Wilson

• Team: Pittsburgh Steelers
• Age: 35
• Salary: $1,210,000
• 1-year contract total: $1,210,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 13

While Wilson is being paid a base salary of $1.2 million by the Steelers, he's still being paid $39 million for the season by the Denver Broncos as a bit of the terms of his guaranteed $124 million contract.

30. Will Levis

• Team: Tennessee Titans
• Age: 25
• 2024 average salary: $2,385,541
• four-year contract total: $9,542,162
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 2

Levis will start as quarterback for the first time in a spot season game.

29. Bo Nix

• Team: Denver Broncos
• Age: 24
• 2024 average salary: $four,653,292
• four-year contract total: $18,613,166
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 1

Nix is in his rookie season after having played seven years of faculty football.

28. Jacoby Brissett

• Team: New England Patriots
• Age: 31
• 2024 average salary: $Eight,000,000
• 1-year contract total: $Eight,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 9

Brissett first played for the Patriots in 2016 but has also played for four other NFL teams before taking up the starting quarterback position this season less than new head coach Jerod Mayo.

27. Anthony Richardson

• Team: Indianapolis Colts
• Age: 22
• 2024 average salary: $Eight,498,508
• four-year contract total: $33,994,030
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 2

Richardson end as much as be drafted by the Colts in 2023, and he starts for the first time as quarterback. Richardson end as much as be the number four overall % within the 2023 NFL Draft.

26. C.J. Stroud

• Team: Houston Texans
• Age: 22
• 2024 average salary: $9,069,812
• four-year contract total: $36,279,246
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 2

Stroud starts with the Texans for the second season. He end as much as be the number 2 overall % within the 2023 NFL Draft.

25. Jayden Daniels

• Team: Washington Commanders
• Age: 23
• 2024 average salary: $9,436,663
• four-year contract total: $37,746,650
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 1

Daniels starts his rookie season with the Commanders, which have now now not had a winning season since 2016. He end as much as be awarded the Heisman Trophy in 2023.

24. Bryce Young

• Team: Carolina Panthers
• Age: 23
• 2024 average salary: $9,488,769
• four-year contract total: $37,955,074
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 2

Young starts for the second straight season for the Panthers.

23. Caleb Williams

• Team: Chicago Bears
• Age: 22
• 2024 average salary: $9,871,515
• four-year contract total: $39,486,058
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 1

Williams starts his rookie season with the Bears after being the #1 overall % within the 2024 NFL Draft.

22. Sam Darnold

• Team: Minnesota Vikings
• "Age: 27
• 2024 average salary: $10,000,000
• 1-year contract total: $10,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 7

Darnold end as much as be the number 3 overall % within the NFL Draft and first played for the New York Jets. The Vikings are his fourth NFL team.

21. Gardner Minshew

• Team: Las Vegas Raiders
• Age: 28
• 2024 average salary: $12,five hundred,000
• 2-year contract total: $25,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 6

Minshew starts in a spot game of the season for the first time in his NFL career since 2020 after largely playing as a backup within the previous 5 seasons.

20. Geno Smith

• Team: Seattle Seahawks
• Age: 33
• 2024 average salary: $25,000,000
• 3-year contract total: $seventy 5,000,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): eleven

Smith joined the Seahawks in 2020 but didn’t make a main impact until the 2022 season, when he started for all 17 games.

19. Baker Mayfield

• Team: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Age: 29
• 2024 average salary: $33,333,333
• 3-year contract total: $100,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): Eight

Mayfield plays for a second season with the Buccaneers, after signing on as a free agent in 2023 for $four million for one year.

18. Aaron Rodgers

• Team: New York Jets
• Age: 40
• 2024 average salary: $37,five hundred,000
• 3-year contract total: $112,five hundred,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 20

Rodgers played for 18 seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He end as much as be injured while playing for the Jets at some stage in the opening day of the 2023 season.

17. Derek Carr

• Team: New Orleans Saints
• Age: 33
• 2024 average salary: $37,five hundred,000
• four-year contract total: $a hundred and fifty,000,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): eleven

Carr played his first nine seasons with the Raiders.

sixteen. Dak Prescott

• Team: Dallas Cowboys
• Age: 31
• 2024 average salary: $40,000,000
• four-year contract total: $a hundred and sixty,000,000
• Years into contract: four|
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 9

Prescott starts his ninth season with the Cowboys. He and the team are working out a contract extension which can continue to land him probably probably essentially the most perfect-paid quarterbacks within the league.

15. Daniel Jones

• Team: New York Giants
• Age: 27
• 2024 average salary: $40,000,000
• four-year contract total: $a hundred and sixty,000,000|
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 6

In Jones’ first year of his four-year contract, the Giants went 6-eleven for the 2023–2024 season.

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14. Matthew Stafford

• Team: Los Angeles Rams
• Age: 36
• 2024 average salary: $40,000,000
• four-year contract total: $a hundred and sixty,000,000
• Years into contract: four
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): sixteen

Stafford played his first 12 years with the Detroit Lions and led the Rams to a Super Bowl championship in 2022.

13. Josh Allen

• Team: Buffalo Bills
• Age: 28
• 2024 average salary: $Forty three,000,000
• 6-year contract total: $258,000,000
• Years into contract: four
• |Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 7

Allen led the Bills to the playoffs within the past 5 seasons, and the team is seeking out more less than his signal calling. The Bills had missed the playoffs from 2000 to 2016.

12. Patrick Mahomes

• Team: Kansas City Chiefs
• Age: 28
• 2024 average salary: $45,000,000
• 10-year contract total: $450,000,000
• Years into contract: 5
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): Eight

Mahomes is the correct kind active starting quarterback with greater than one championships. He led the Chiefs to their third Super Bowl win in 5 years in 2024.

eleven. Kirk Cousins

• Team: Atlanta Falcons
• Age: 36
• 2024 average salary: $45,000,000
• four-year contract total: $a hundred and eighty,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 13

Cousins played for the Washington Commanders for his first six years and the Minnesota Vikings for his second six.

10. Deshaun Watson

• Team: Cleveland Browns
• Age: 28
• 2024 average salary: $forty six,000,000
• 5-year contract total: $230,000,000
• Years into contract: 3
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): Eight

Watson end as much as be a top draft % in 2017 and spent his first 5 years with the Texans before being traded to the Browns in 2022. In 2020, Watson signed on to a four-year contract valued at $177.5 million, which on the time end as much as be the second most lucrative contract within the NFL, after Aaron Rodgers’.

9. Kyler Murray

• Team: Arizona Cardinals
• Age: 27
• 2024 average salary: $forty six,100,000
• 5-year contract total: $230,five hundred,000
• Years into contract: 3
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 6

Murray end as much as be the Heisman Trophy winner in 2018. He led the Cardinals to a winning season in 2021, but the past two seasons resulted in losing records and left the team last within their division.

Eight. Jalen Hurts

• Team: Philadelphia Eagles
• Age: 26
• 2024 average salary: $fifty one,000,000
• 5-year contract total: $255,000,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 5

Hurts led the Eagles to the 2022 NFC Championship, but they lost to the Chiefs in Super Bowl LVII. The contract reflects the team’s self assurance in continuing the playoff run into the arriving seasons.

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7. Lamar Jackson

• Team: Baltimore Ravens
• Age: 27
• 2024 average salary: $52,000,000
• 5-year contract total: $260,000,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 7

Jackson has spent his entire career with the Ravens, and his contract reflects the organization’s self assurance in his ability to get the team into the playoffs and confidently all a Super Bowl win.

6. Justin Herbert

• Team: Los Angeles Chargers
• Age: 26
• 2024 average salary: $52,five hundred,000
• 5-year contract total: $262,five hundred,000
• Years into contract: 2
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 5

Herbert will play less than a new coach, Jim Harbaugh, who left the University of Michigan for the professionals.

5. Jared Goff

• Team: Detroit Lions
• Age: 29
• 2024 average salary: $Fifty three,000,000
• four-year contract total: $212,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 9

Goff proved his naysayers wrong after being traded from the Rams in 2021. He led the Lions to the 2023 NFC Championship Game before falling to the 49ers, and the organization has rewarded him with a lucrative salary.

four. Tua Tagovailoa

• Team: Miami Dolphins
• Age: 26
• 2024 average salary: $Fifty three,100,000
• four-year contract total: $212,four hundred,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 5

Tagovailoa’s contract is the second largest for a four-year contract after Jordan Love’s, and his pay reflects the Dolphins’ expectations that he's going to continue to have winning seasons.

3. Jordan Love

• Team: Green Bay Packers
• Age: 25
• 2024 average salary: $Fifty five,000,000
• four-year contract total: $220,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 5

Love end as much as be a backup for Aaron Rodgers and took over because the Packers’ starting quarterback when Rodgers departed for the Jets in 2023.

2. Trevor Lawrence

• Team: Jacksonville Jaguars
• Age: 24
• 2024 average salary: $Fifty five,000,000
• 5-year contract total: $275,000,000
• Years into contract: 1
• Seasons in NFL (inclusive): four

Lawrence is the youngest among active quarterbacks with the largest contract by total value.

1. Joe Burrow

Team: Cincinnati Bengals
Age: 27
2024 average salary: $Fifty five,000,000
5-year contract total: $275,000,000
Years into contract: 2
Seasons in NFL (inclusive): 5

Burrow won the 2019 Heisman Trophy. In his second year with the Bengals, he led the team to Super Bowl LVI in 2022 but lost to the Rams. In 2023, he signed a record contract for $275 million.

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