The NFL has always handed out large deals, yet the figures tied to its top earners in 2026 look unusually high.
Forbes has Patrick Mahomes at the top. He is set to earn about $86.8 million in total pay. Josh Allen is next with $73 million. After that come Jared Goff, Jalen Hurts, and Tua Tagovailoa, in that order.
One point is hard to miss. All of the players in the NFL’s top 10 for total earnings are quarterbacks.
That pattern says something about today’s league. Signal callers have long been central to offenses. Still, higher salary cap limits, big TV money, and deals that keep getting more costly have lifted quarterback pay to a level that feels almost out of reach compared with a few years back.
The spread between the highest contracts and everyone else keeps widening too. For 2026, Forbes lists a player at $51.5 million to enter its top 10. Five years earlier, the same spot required roughly $26.2 million.
Patrick Mahomes Is Still at the Top
Mahomes is not just logging another strong year of pay. He has pulled farther away from everyone else.
The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback is projected to earn about $86.8 million in 2026. That total includes $56.8 million tied to football. It also includes $30 million from endorsements and other work outside the sport.
A big part of the reason is the contract extension he agreed to in June. The new deal is close to $505 million across eight years. On average, it comes out to about $63.1 million per year.
This extension also shows where the NFL quarterback market has gone. Mahomes was already a top name in the league when he signed his earlier contracts. The latest terms keep him at the very top financially. They also give Kansas City stability with the player who has become the main symbol of the franchise.
Off-field money plays a role as well. Mahomes has grown a brand that goes beyond the game. As a result, his gap between what he earns on the field and what he earns away from it is among the widest in the league.
Josh Allen Is Right Behind Him
Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen took second place with $73 million in total pay for 2026.
Roughly $55 million is tied to his play on the field. The rest, about $18 million, comes from deals, endorsements, and other business work.
His spot on the list hints at how fast the quarterback pay scene has changed. Top passers are not just chasing one big team contract anymore. Many deals are setting new numbers for everyone at the position.
His total also points to a wider pattern in the NFL. More of the biggest names now earn money in two ways at once. They collect what their team pays, and they grow value through work outside football.
Jared Goff Has Quietly Joined the Biggest Earners
Jared Goff might not get the same hype as Mahomes or Allen, yet his payday is close.
For 2026, the Detroit Lions quarterback is set to make about $60 million total. Roughly $55 million of that is from his contract on the field, and about $5 million comes from other deals.
Goff’s number shows that the top of the NFL money list is not just based on name fame. The way a contract is built, when money lands, and how large the deal is can change what a player makes in one specific year.
His total also points to what teams want from quarterbacks. They value play at the top level, week after week.
Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa Are Also Above $56 Million
Jalen Hurts is projected to earn $56.5 million in 2026.
For the Eagles, he is expected to bring in about $51.5 million from football duties. He could add roughly $5 million from work outside the field.
Tua Tagovailoa is not far off, with an expected total of $56 million.
His case stands out. The 2026 number is not just tied to the team he is on now. Miami let him go, and Tagovailoa later signed with Atlanta on a deal worth around $1.2 million for the season.
Even so, Miami still has major payments due to him from his old contract.
Because of situations like that, yearly earnings rankings can look unlike lists that sort players by the average value of what they are signed for today.
Jordan Love, Lamar Jackson and Baker Mayfield Stay in the Mix
Three more quarterbacks are sitting right under the top group.
Jordan Love is set to make $54.4 million. Most of that is expected from playing time, about $50.4 million. The rest is expected from non-football sources, around $4 million.
Next is Lamar Jackson at $54 million. He is projected to get about $52 million from his play and roughly $2 million from endorsements.
Baker Mayfield is also at $54 million. His figure is split with about $50 million tied to on-field work and about $4 million from off-field deals.
Jackson’s contract situation may matter a lot from here. He is in the second to last year of a five-year deal worth $260 million. Reports say he has been talking about a new extension.
If a new agreement gets done, it may shift the top part of the quarterback pay scale again.
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Dak Prescott Shows Why Contract Value and Annual Earnings Are Different
Dak Prescott sits at number nine on Forbes’ 2026 earnings table, with $52 million.
About $40 million of that total is expected to come from football work.
Roughly $12 million is tied to money he earns off the field.
This result shows a key difference when people compare NFL earnings.
A top contract does not always mean the highest yearly paycheck.
Deal details can be tricky, because signing money, guaranteed amounts, and other payments may land in different seasons.
So the yearly earnings list can move around a lot from one year to the next, even if the main deal terms did not change much.
Daniel Jones Closes Out the Top 10
Daniel Jones lands the last spot with $51.5 million in projected earnings for 2026.
Football is set to bring in about $49.5 million. Off-field work should add around $2 million.
Even cracking the top 10 takes a huge amount of money these days.
That $51.5 million threshold is almost double what it was five years back, which shows how fast pay in the NFL keeps rising.
The NFL’s Highest-Paid Players in 2026
1. Patrick Mahomes: $86.8 million
2.Josh Allen: $73 million
3. Jared Goff: $60 million
4. Jalen Hurts: $56.5 million
5. Tua Tagovailoa: $56 million
6. Jordan Love: $54.4 million
7. Lamar Jackson: $54 million
8. Baker Mayfield: $54 million
9. Dak Prescott: $52 million
10. Daniel Jones $51.5 million
In 2026, these 10 players are projected to make around $598 million.
In 2025, the same group totaled about $571 million, which is near a 5% jump.
The 2024 number was higher. That year, the combined total sat at roughly $693 million.
This drop from 2024 does not mean pay in the NFL has stalled. Timing on contracts and how big signing bonuses are spread across seasons can shift the numbers from one year to the next.
Why NFL Salaries Keep Going Up
The main cause is pretty direct: the league has kept finding ways to bring in more cash.
In 2026, the NFL salary cap is around $301 million for each team. That is up about 8% from the year before.
The collective bargaining rules say players must get at least 48% of league revenue. So when the league earns more, the pot for payments also grows.
This can push spending upward across the top end.
A quarterback lands a big new contract, then a few months later another top player hits free agency or starts extension talks. The fresh deal sets a new yardstick. Then the next round of talks starts from there. Gradually, the figures climb.
That is also why a $50 million salary in the NFL went from seeming out of reach to feeling like a standard number for top quarterbacks.
It Is Not Just Quarterbacks Getting Paid
QBs take the top spots in the earnings list, but other players are seeing big jumps too.
Forbes says that in 2026, athletes at 13 positions that are not quarterback set new marks for average annual value.
Take Will Anderson Jr. as an example. His deal is around $50 million per year, and it puts him at a new height for defensive players.
Micah Parsons is close to $46.5 million a year. Aidan Hutchinson is near $45 million.
Other big deals include Jaxon Smith-Njigba at about $42.15 million, and Myles Garrett at roughly $41.64 million.
These figures point to teams spending more on impact players, even when they do not play quarterback.
That said, the quarterback pay range still looks separate from the rest.
The Biggest Contracts Tell a Slightly Different Story
Focusing only on the 2026 earnings can throw you off, since earnings and contract value do not mean the same thing.
Some of the biggest NFL deals by average annual value do not show up on Forbes’ top 10 earnings list for that year.
For example, Patrick Mahomes’ current contract is close to $63.1 million a year. Dak Prescott is near $60 million. Matthew Stafford, Josh Allen, Jordan Love, Trevor Lawrence, Joe Burrow, and Baker Mayfield are each about at the $55 million level.
These figures describe the average worth of the contract. They do not track what a player takes home in that calendar year.
This gap matters if you want to compare NFL pay. A player may have a huge deal and still not land at the top for earnings in a given year.
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Endorsements Have Become a Second Salary
Some of the NFL’s best-known players also run major money-making projects beyond football.
Patrick Mahomes tops the 2026 off-field list at roughly $30 million. Josh Allen comes in near $18 million. Dak Prescott is estimated around $12 million.
At this career stage, deals and promotions often matter as much as base pay.
A quarterback is valuable to a brand in more than one way. Fans know the name, so the player can show up in ads, work with companies, put money into other ventures, and keep earning after the season is over.
That is why a player can stay high on the earnings list even if his game-day contract is not number one.
What the 2026 List Says About the NFL
The 2026 earnings list says more than “players earn more now.”
It points to money gathering near a handful of top names.
In the top 10 spots, every player is a quarterback. The cutoff has moved past $50 million. Also, the biggest deals the league signs can run close to, or even hit, $500 million when you look at the full term.
Meanwhile, other roles are not standing still. Teams are paying up for elite pass rushers and standout receivers. Even defensive players overall are getting more attention in contract talks.
From the stands, the pay figures can feel far from the game. But inside NFL front offices, these deals are tied to a wider plan. They weigh how much to pledge to a player who can swing wins, lift ticket demand, draw TV viewers, attract sponsors, and shape how a team is seen for years.
Next, more quarterback contract renewals may raise the bar again.
For now, Patrick Mahomes is first on the 2026 earnings list. Josh Allen is next, then Jared Goff. A bigger set of stars keeps pressing for deals that reshape what people call a top tier contract.
