Aaron Rodgers is in a race with Matthew Stafford to become NFL’s first $400 million earner

It pays well to be a quarterback in the NFL and if you need proof, just look at the career earnings of Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers. No player in the NFL history has ever cracked $400 million in career on-field earnings, but that’s going to change this year with Stafford and Rodgers both on the cusp of hitting that massive number.  

So who’s going to get their first? Let’s break it down to see who’s going to win the race to $400 million. 

First, let’s take a look at where their career earnings currently stand (via overthecap): 

Aaron Rodgers career earnings: $381.7 million

Rodgers has been in the NFL since 2005 when the Green Bay Packers selected him with the 24th overall pick. During his 18 seasons in Green Bay, Rodgers earned a total of $306.64 million. During his rookie year with the Packers, he earned just $2.35 million in salary and bonuses. His biggest year for earnings came in 2018 when he pocketed $66.9 million. The reason that number was so big is because Rodgers signed an extension in 2018 that included a $57.5 million signing bonus. 

After being traded to the Jets, Rodgers ended up earning a total of $75.05 million for his two seasons in New York. That’s $4.17 million per game if you’re scoring at home. 

Matthew Stafford career earnings: $364 million

The Rams quarterback was drafted in 2009, which is notable because that was two years before the NFL implemented the rookie wage scale, which limits how much a rookie can make on their first contract. With no limits in place, Stafford signed a six-year, $72 million rookie deal in 2009 after the Detroit Lions made him the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL Draft. That rookie deal paid Stafford $12 million per year, and to put that in perspective, it took until THIS YEAR for the No. 1 overall pick to pass that number (Cam Ward’s four-year, $48.75 million rookie contract will pay him $12.19 million per year). 

Overall, Stafford ended up earning $219 million from the Lions. 

In 2021, the Lions shocked the NFL and shipped Stafford to Los Angeles to play for the Rams. The biggest pay day of his career came in 2022: After he led the Rams to a win in Super Bowl LVI, the team awarded him with an extension that paid him $61.5 million in 2022. That payment came in the first year after signing a four-year, $160 million extension in March 2022. 

In four seasons with the Rams, Stafford has made $145 million. 

Race to $400 million: Who’s going to win?

Although Rodgers is much closer to hitting $400 million, there’s a good chance Stafford will actually end up hitting the number first. Rodgers and Stafford both signed new deals this offseason and that’s a big reason why the Rams QB will likely hit the $400 million mark before Rodgers. 

For Rodgers to hit the $400 million mark, he’ll have to win the Super Bowl this year, so he’ll definitely have the odds stacked against him (Rodgers gets a $1.5 million bonus if he leads the Steelers to a Lombardi Trophy). 

This all means that Stafford is almost certainly set to become the first player in NFL history to crack the $400 million mark. 

There’s only one other active QB who has even earned $300 million and that’s Russell Wilson, who’s at $305.4 million and he’ll be adding at least $10.5 million to that total this year. However, it’s unlikely he’ll be getting anymore big money contracts, so he almost certainly won’t be hitting $400 million. 

Patrick Mahomes will likely pass both Rodgers and Stafford in career earnings in the future — mainly because he signed a 10-year, $503 million deal in July 2020 — but to date, Mahomes has only earned $182 million in his career. 

One other active quarterback who will soon be joining the $300 million club is Kirk Cousins. The Falcons backup QB has made $294.2 million in his career and he’s about to add $27.5 million to that total in 2025. That will put Cousins at $321.7 million in career earnings and if he can find a starting job somewhere in 2026, he could cash in one more time. However, with Cousins set to turn 38 before the start of the 2026 season, he may not get a big enough contract to get him to $400 million.