2020 Vision: How Five Quarterback Turned Into A Billion-Dollar Draft
NFL Contracts Balloon and Signal-Callers Make Big Bank
This isn’t exactly breaking news or breaking football news. However, when five quarterbacks taken in the 2020 draft have signed contracts collectively worth more than $1 billion, that is record-breaking news when it comes to NFL financials. 2020 QB contracts surge as Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert, Jordan Love, and Jalen Hurts already have contracts that total around $1.2 billion. Remember, this is the NFL not the NBA where contracts balloon with stunning irregularity.
The 2020 Draft produced five of the biggest QB contracts in NFL history
No. 1: Joe Burrow: Five years, $275M
No. 5: Tua Tagovailoa: Four years, $212.4M
No. 6: Justin Herbert: Five years, $262.5M
No. 26: Jordan Love: Four years, $220M
No. 53: Jalen Hurts: Five years, $255M pic.twitter.com/hiEN6SakNA— NFL (@NFL) July 27, 2024
The contracts total 23 NFL seasons. However, let’s be real: Long before the NFL betting odds and win totals are set for the expiring years of these pacts, the quarterbacks will be playing on other, richer deals. It’s the way of the world now in the NFL: pay the man calling the plays in the huddle … or else. 2020 QB contracts surge, reflecting the high stakes and financial commitment to these players.
Seventeen Starts and a $255 Million Contract?
Perhaps the most astonishing of the contracts netted by the 2020 quarterback quintet is that of the Packers’ Love. In NFL news, he sat for three years behind Aaron Rodgers, making one start. When Rodgers was dispatched to the Jets, Love stepped into the starting role.
He went 9-8 as a starter, good enough for a wild-card berth in the NFC. The Packers won a wild-card game and lost in the divisional round. When the 2024 training camp along Green Bay learned Love wasn’t going to practice without a new contract.
He is entering his fifth season, playing one entire year. The former first-rounder out of Utah State got a $75 million signing bonus. He is guaranteed $160 million. How out of hand the money has gotten was noticed by a former Pro Bowl linebacker, Shawne Merriman.
I have no problem with guys getting paid especially when they deserve it but this has to stop, there should never big this big of a gap. The NFL is not the NBA, one or two players will not win you a championship. I hope they find a resolution before it damages the game. pic.twitter.com/XKpojiGrFK
— Shawne Merriman (@shawnemerriman) July 27, 2024
No Super Bowl Rings
What also can be noted from the quarterback quintet is they have yet to earn any Super Bowl jewelry for their franchises or teammates. Burrow played in a Super Bowl and lost. Herbert has not gotten close. Hurts got the Eagles to the Super Bowl in the 2022 season and they came up short against the Kansas City Chiefs. Tagovailoa has not gotten the Dolphins close to the NFL championship game.
So these players all going into their fifth NFL season – Love didn’t play a down in 2020 – are raking in incredible amounts of money without having made it to the top. 2020 QB contracts surge, yet Super Bowl rings remain elusive for these highly-paid players.
Patrick Mahomes’ 10-year contract worth $450,000,000 signed in 2020 — that year again – pales compared to what people in the same position who are far less accomplished are making. Mahomes’ salary in 2024 calls for a base of $9.85 million. He has three Super Bowl rings and who would believe a $450,000,000 contract would be team-friendly?
What Member of the 2020 Quintet Is Most Likely To Earn Super Bowl Ring First?
Everyone is judged by results. Moreover, that is more true for athletes than any other profession. Indeed, your stats and your record are defining. Therefore, which of these quarterbacks – if any – is most likely to win a Super Bowl first?
If Burrow were able to stay healthy, the Bengals would have a great chance to make a deep playoff run. The Dolphins have yet to prove they can handle any team that wears the contender label. Jim Harbaugh gets Herbert with the Bolts but they are in the same division as the Chiefs and are closer to the bottom of the AFC than the top.
Love plays in a division that has seen the script flipped with the former lowly Detroit Lions now on top. The Packers feel more like a wild-card team than one that will topple Dan Campbell’s group. Hurts seemed to be on track for a Super Bowl run last season with the Eagles’ scintillating start but the team crumbled and must prove itself again.
And that brings up the biggest issue: Years ago when salaries weren’t bloated, winning wasn’t just anything it was everything. When players in their mid-20s are making $50 million or more per season are they going to have trouble sleeping if they don’t earn a ring or will they just go to a jeweler and get themselves a different bauble?
The new Top 8 annually paid QBs in the NFL
Love: $55M
Lawrence: $55M
Burrow: $55M
Tua: $53.1M
Goff: $53M
Herbert: $52.5M
Lamar: $52M
Hurts: $51MCombined playoff record: 16-17
Combined Super Bowls: 3
Combined Super Bowl wins: 0
Paying and hoping.
— Rich Eisen (@richeisen) July 27, 2024
For more breaking news, betting analysis, visit Point Spreads Sports Magazine.
