Salaries for NFL quarterbacks have skyrocketed at a historic pace in recent years, reshaping the financial landscape of the league. As of the 2025 season, 11 quarterbacks carry an average annual value (AAV) of more than $50 million, per Spotrac, a staggering benchmark that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago.
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One of the turning points in this surge came after Jalen Hurts led the Philadelphia Eagles to Super Bowl LVII. The former Oklahoma star signed a five-year, $255 million extension in April 2023, briefly becoming the highest-paid player in NFL history with an AAV of $51 million.
But the market didn’t stop there. In the months and years that followed, 10 different quarterbacks surpassed Hurts’ once-record-setting AAV, as the price for elite QB play continued to explode. But as Richard Sherman explained, not every QB deserves that kind of money.
Sherman started by acknowledging how teams are building around their quarterbacks while handing out massive deals. But for him, paying $50 million only makes sense if the player can elevate the entire roster.
“If a team ever allows me to be part of decision making or in somebody’s front office and lets you have GM Sherm,” he said, “I’m not paying a quarterback $50 million unless he’s a difference maker.”
According to Sherman, only “five to six” quarterbacks in the league fit that description. He then laid out the small group of passers he believes truly earn their massive contracts.
“I think Dak’s a difference maker,” Sherman said, before adding that Joe Burrow fully justifies his record-setting deal:
“Burrow’s a difference maker. He’s making 55 million—justified.”
Prescott became the NFL’s highest-paid player when he signed his massive extension on the eve of the Cowboys’ Week 1 game against the Browns last season. The deal was the culmination of a career year in 2023, when he completed a personal-best 69.5% of his passes and led the league with 36 touchdown throws.
However, his follow-up campaign got off to a slower start. Prescott’s completion percentage dipped to 64.7% through the first eight games of the 2024 season before a partially torn hamstring sidelined him for the final nine contests.
Josh Allen also received strong praise: “Josh Allen is a difference maker. Making his money—justified.”
Allen agreed to a blockbuster six-year, $330 million contract extension with $250 million guaranteed, securing his future in Buffalo through the 2030 season. The contract places Allen among the highest-paid players in NFL history.
Fresh off winning the first MVP award of his career, the Bills star will now earn $55 million per year, a figure that ranks second in average annual value only to Dak Prescott’s $60 million per year deal with the Dallas Cowboys.
Lamar Jackson, the reigning MVP, also belongs on the list. “Lamar is a difference maker, making his money—justified.”
And finally, the quarterback who needs no explanation: “Patrick Mahomes—difference maker. No question about it. Guys that take their team to the next level.”
These five — Dak Prescott, Joe Burrow, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, and Patrick Mahomes — are, for Sherman, the standard. However, Mahomes is the only one on the list who, at $45 million AAV, is making less than $50 mil a year.
Sherman did acknowledge another tier of good quarterbacks, and in some cases, very good, but not yet at the same level.
He mentioned Jalen Hurts, Justin Herbert, C.J. Stroud, Jayden Daniels, Brock Purdy, Baker Mayfield, and rising star Drake Maye as players who “can potentially get into the realm of great players.”
He also added that Matthew Stafford, despite not being on the top-five list, is fully capable of earning that kind of contract:
“Stafford, I’d put him in the elite category. If he got $50 million, he’d be damn worth it.”
With huge contracts come massive expectations. As Sherman bluntly put it, “When you pay a quarterback that kind of money, the expectation’s high—the criticism is higher.”
