Micah Parsons has been a top-five edge rusher since his first year in the NFL in 2021. So when he was due for an extension, he was due for a big one. Unfortunately, he was dealing with Jerry Jones, who was unwilling to pay him. Thankfully, he was able to engineer a move to the Green Bay Packers.
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And the Green Bay Packers didn’t just give him a big extension, they gave him a big, fat extension. Parsons wanted to be the highest-paid defender following his new deal, and the Packers gave him exactly that… and then some.
His new four-year, $186 million contract not only surpassed Cleveland Browns counterpart Myles Garrett as the largest deal, both by AAV and total value, for a defensive player in NFL history. It’s the largest for a non-QB overall.
Parsons’ AAV of $46.5 million is by far the most for a non-QB ever. Fellow edge T.J. Watt is second at $41 million, followed closely by Bengals WR Ja’Marr Chase at $40.25 million and Garrett at $40 million flat. Parsons now ranks 15th in total contract value and 12th in AAV overall. Parsons also received $120 million guaranteed at signing, which is the eighth-most ever.
That wraps up the season of mega-extensions for edge rushers. Parsons, Garrett, Watt, 2024 sack king Trey Hendrickson, and Raiders edge Maxx Crosby all signed new deals in the last few months. But while Parsons is the highest-paid on the field among them, is he still ahead of the likes of Garrett when it comes to off-field endeavors?
Parsons has yet to surpass Garrett in off-field earning potential
We all know that Micah Parsons loves his podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons,” and despite how silly the whole thing is, there’s no doubt he’s making a tidy sum from that consistent stream of income. However, apart from that, Parsons seems to be playing it close to the vest regarding anything else he’s putting his money into. Surely he has made some investments, but they are not currently known to the public.
Garrett, however, has been making NFL money for a few more years than Parsons. The new Packers edge had made just over $62 million in the NFL prior to this new deal, while Garrett, who was drafted four years before in 2017, has made just under $150 million through eight years in the league. If we included the full amount of his recent $160 million contract, Garrett would be at just under $330 million in career NFL earnings.
And Garrett has been making money on top of that too. He’s got lucrative endorsement deals with industry leaders like Reebok, Pepsi, and Gatorade. He has also bought a stake in the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, thereby strengthening his ties to the city he’s played in for his entire pro career.
Garrett also owns a five-bedroom, five-bathroom mansion in Cleveland. He bought the two-acre lot for $1.2 million back in 2018, and now it’s worth $1.5 million. Not a bad investment. Garrett also teamed with Hollywood star Mark Wahlberg’s sports utility gear company, Municipal, as an equity partner to diversify his portfolio even further.
