With the NFL salary cap steadily rising each year, the length and value of player contracts are reaching unprecedented heights. Josh Allen was the first quarterback to surpass the $300 million mark, and now even non-QBs are earning $40 million annually.
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Amid the buzz around these massive deals, someone posed an interesting question to AI: Who will be the highest-paid NFL player a decade from now? Surprisingly, the AI predicted that Caleb Williams and Arch Manning could become the league’s first billion-dollar players. Brandon Marshall had some thoughts on this bold prediction.
Marshall loves the jaw-dropping contract figures that ChatGPT predicted, and he’s not surprised by them. The NFL is a cash cow, already generating nearly $20 billion in revenue — the highest of any sports league worldwide. Given the league’s ever-growing popularity and the quality of its product, that figure is only set to increase.
“I love it. I can see it happening. The NFL is the highest revenue-generating league out of all the leagues. But the players over the years have been paid the less. Baseball players are already making that. This makes sense to me. The NFL can’t mess it up. The product is great.”
Marshall believes NFL players aren’t getting their fair share of this massive pie. Compared to MLB and NBA stars, who have landed contracts worth over $750 million, like Shohei Ohtani and Juan Soto, NFL players lag behind in terms of compensation.
While quarterbacks like Caleb Williams and Arch Manning topped the list with their billion-dollar deals, a few other players made the cut as the highest earners in this hypothetical future. C.J. Stroud is projected to sign an 8-year, $850 million contract, while Marvin Harrison Jr. secures a 5-year, $325 million deal. Meanwhile, Micah Parsons rounds out the list with a 6-year, $360 million contract.
Marshall is confident the NFL is on the right track to hit these historic figures, as long as the league doesn’t make missteps. He specifically warns against Roger Goodell’s long-time advocacy for expanding the season, fearing it could dilute the product and hurt the players’ value in the long run.
Marshall believes the NFL won’t hit the big numbers if they go for quantity over quality
Brandon Marshall agrees that the NFL is on track to reach the massive contracts that ChatGPT predicted, similar to what we see in the MLB. However, he believes a few factors could derail that trajectory.
One of those factors is expanding the number of games. Increasing the quantity could compromise the quality of the product, and the league can’t afford that if it wants to reach those billion-dollar contracts.
Another potential issue is the addition of more rules that dilute the game’s physicality. The NFL’s appeal lies in its intensity and controlled violence — it’s a part of what makes the sport so captivating. If the league continues to soften the game, it risks losing its unique appeal and, with it, the chance to reach those historic contract figures.
” How do you mess it up if you’re in the NFL? By adding more games. How do you mess it up if you’re in the NFL? Creating too many rules that’s protecting offensive players because now the game gets soft. That’s why we love it. It’s an aggressive and violent sport. So if you get too soft, the energy isn’t going to be there and it’s going to mess up the product.”
While Marshall largely agreed with the list, he had a couple of questions about the names included — or rather, the ones left out. He genuinely wondered why Jayden Daniels and Shedeur Sanders didn’t make the cut, especially since Arch Manning appeared on the list despite not yet playing a down in the NFL.
The former Broncos wideout couldn’t help but challenge ChatGPT’s predictions. In his eyes, Daniels is already a star with a proven track record, and Shedeur has the complete package — talent, moxie, and marketability. Marshall sees both as future cornerstones of the league, capable of commanding the massive contracts that ChatGPT forecasted. For him, leaving them off the list feels like a glaring oversight.
