‘Tom Brady is Going to Play for 20,000’: Julian Edelman Explains NFL’s Playoff Pay Cut and How QBs Get Paid Like Long Snappers

NFL contracts are often misconstrued and very unique from player to player. Some players will be paid top dollar, such as $60 million per year, while others, like Shedeur Sanders, will play for less than $2 million per season. Certain contracts are worth over $300 million, while some veterans end up signing one-year ‘prove-it’ deals. 

But the playoffs are a great leveller. Postseason, all players get paid the same, despite what they make in the regular season and their position. So a Tom Brady during his reign, or a Patrick Mahomes now, who make millions of dollars per game, end up making less than $50,00 for a playoff game. 

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman, while describing how the playoff pay system works, revealed that the catch was that the teams had to play for the players to get money. That meant the teams that got first-round byes (oftentimes the Patriots) would lose out on money.

“For the first round, you’d get like twenty grand, twenty-five grand to the winner,” Edelman said on the Games with Names YouTube channel. “The next round, you’d get like an additional thirty grand. We would get the first-round bye, do the same amount of work, and not get paid. It was only twenty grand, but I was making like one hundred grand at the time.”

Still, the Patriots had to work, practice, and prepare without the additional pay. Edelman then revealed that everyone in the organization earns the same amount of money for playoff games.

Needless to say, it was a big thing for the trainers, coaches, but not the top players. He explained the situation further by citing Brady’s and Mahomes’ pay as an example.

“Tom Brady usually gets $2 million a game,” Edelman said. “He’s going to play for $20,000. Patrick Mahomes is getting $50 million a year, and now he’s getting twenty grand, thirty grand… Same as the long snapper.” 

Edelman further noted that some teams would beat around the bush by delaying payment in certain contracts. While featuring in the playoffs, and the perks — pay as well as the silverware — are important for a player, it’s their contract that makes millionaires out of them. 

And, San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy has joined the big-earners club recently. Edelman was elated with the progress the quarterback has made in his career.

Edelman congratulates Purdy

One of the latest big deals this off-season was the 49ers extending Purdy, who was picked by the franchise in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft. They agreed to a five-year, $265 million extension deal that has him as one of the top 10 highest-paid quarterbacks in the NFL. 

As a former seventh-round pick himself, Edelman praised Purdy for landing the big deal. “As a former player, you always like to see guys get paid,” he said.

“Especially a guy that went his route. I was a seventh-round guy, he’s a seventh-round guy. Now he’s making $54 million per year,” added Edelman.

Over his first three NFL seasons, Purdy earned a total of $2.6 million, ranking as the league’s 76th-highest-paid quarterback. With his new contract, which averages $53 million per year.

Purdy will now make $2.9 million each week — more than he earned in his entire first three years combined. With his contract situation now settled, the 49ers’ quarterback can now focus on leading his team to another winning season.