NFL players don’t just make headlines for their play on the field. Their eye-popping contracts often generate just as much attention. Every NFL season, the list of highest-paid players gets shuffled up as record contract extensions are signed and market forces reset contract values.
As usual, quarterbacks dominate the list of the highest-paid players in the league. Right behind them are the players who have carved out a role as the premier offensive disrupters.
Here are the NFL’s highest-paid players for the 2026 regular season.
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2026 Highest-Paid NFL Players
The highest-paid players in the league lift expectations of Pro Bowl seasons and Super Bowl glory for the teams that land them, but they also carry massive cap hits. It should come as no surprise that eight of the top 10 highest-paid players by annual value in the NFL are quarterbacks. When you’re the most important player on the field, you get paid like it.
Here are the top 10 highest-paid players by average annual value:
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Contract average: $63,093,750
The two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion is the highest-paid player in the league for the best possible reasons. But this year he faces the biggest uphill battle of his career. Working his way back from an ACL tear, Mahomes looks ready for Week 1, though he’ll lead a much different team with much different expectations heading into 2026.
It’s likely his last season alongside longtime teammate Travis Kelce but his first with last year’s Super Bowl MVP, running back Kenneth Walker III, in the backfield.
2. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Contract average: $60,000,000
Prescott put together his fourth Pro Bowl season in 2025, leading one of the most effective passing attacks in the league. He led the NFL in pass attempts, throwing for 4,500 yards and 30 touchdowns. CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens are back at wide receiver for a team ready to return to the playoffs, and another Pro Bowl season from Prescott gives Dallas its best shot at getting there.
3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Contract average: $55,000,000
After an MVP season in 2024, Allen followed it up with a third straight season of 25+ passing touchdowns and 12+ rushing touchdowns. The Bills were the NFL’s No. 1 rushing offense, and Allen finished top five in MVP voting for the fifth time in his career. He’s got a new head coach for the first time in his career after offensive coordinator Joe Brady earned the promotion. Buffalo will need to repeat its elite offensive performance to truly contend.
3. Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals
Contract average: $55,000,000
Burrow missed much of 2025 with a turf toe injury, which effectively killed the Bengals’ playoff chances. Missing significant time to injury has unfortunately become a theme in his career. When healthy, he’s one of the league’s best passers.
In 2024 he led the NFL in completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns. He has perhaps the best receiving duo in the league in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, with a strong running back in Chase Brown behind him. There’s really only one reason Burrow won’t finish among the league’s top five passers this year, and that’s availability.
3. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Contract average: $55,000,000
Lawrence put together a career year in 2025, setting new career highs in passing and rushing touchdowns while helping Jacksonville to a 13-4 record, his best mark as a starter. He was on a tear over the second half of the season, enough to land him in the top five of MVP voting. Expectations are even higher heading into year two of coach Liam Coen’s system.
3. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Contract average: $55,000,000
Love had his best overall season as a starter in 2025, finishing with a 101-passer rating and a 72.7 QBR while helping lead the Packers to a 9-5-1 record when healthy.
This could be a pivotal year for Love and Green Bay with the clock on head coach Matt LaFleur potentially ticking if the Packers miss the playoffs again. Love is key to avoiding that outcome, but he’ll need Tucker Kraft fully healed from a torn ACL, Christian Watson healthy and available and Matthew Golden ready to take a leap in his second season.
3. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Contract average: $55,000,000
Stafford is fresh off his best season as a pro in Year 17, winning his first career MVP while leading the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns as part of one of the best offenses in the league. He was brought back on a short-term deal to keep steering a dangerous offense that is now paired with a terrifying defense. Few teams are as all-in on a Super Bowl run as the Rams are right now.
8. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Contract average: $53,000,000
Goff has put together remarkable consistency since joining Detroit in 2022. He’s made three Pro Bowls while averaging around 4,500 yards and 30+ touchdowns a season. Last year he stayed just as consistent, leading one of the league’s toughest offenses that didn’t have a defense to match.
8. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
Contract average: $53,000,000
Purdy missed eight games in 2025 but still went 7-2 as a starter with 20 touchdowns in those nine games, helping steer San Francisco to a playoff berth and a wild card win before ultimately running into the brick wall of the Super Bowl champion Seahawks. Purdy has put together only one fully healthy season in four years, and unavailable offensive playmakers have become a running theme in San Francisco. Purdy himself is ready to go entering camp, but the same can’t be said for pass catchers Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and George Kittle.
10. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Contract average: $52,500,000
Herbert and the Chargers got off to a blistering start in 2025 before he fractured his hand and the offense slowed. Still, Los Angeles finished 11-5 in games Herbert started, and he closed the year with 26 passing touchdowns, his most since his second season in the league.
This year he has a new offensive coordinator in Mike McDaniel, who has built a reputation as one of the great offensive minds in the game. Preseason expectations for Herbert and the rest of the Chargers offense are sky-high as a result.
Top 50 Highest-Paid NFL Players
It’s no surprise that quarterbacks dominate the highest average salary list. Here’s a look at the league’s highest-paid players by average annual value heading into the 2026 season.
| Rank | Player | Team | Position | Average Annual Value |
| 1 | Patrick Mahomes | Kansas City Chiefs | QB | $63,093,750 |
| 2 | Dak Prescott | Dallas Cowboys | QB | $60,000,000 |
| 3 | Josh Allen | Buffalo Bills | QB | $55,000,000 |
| 3 | Joe Burrow | Cincinnati Bengals | QB | $55,000,000 |
| 3 | Trevor Lawrence | Jacksonville Jaguars | QB | $55,000,000 |
| 3 | Jordan Love | Green Bay Packers | QB | $55,000,000 |
| 3 | Matthew Stafford | Los Angeles Rams | QB | $55,000,000 |
| 8 | Jared Goff | Detroit Lions | QB | $53,000,000 |
| 8 | Brock Purdy | San Francisco 49ers | QB | $53,000,000 |
| 10 | Justin Herbert | Los Angeles Chargers | QB | $52,500,000 |
| 11 | Lamar Jackson | Baltimore Ravens | QB | $52,000,000 |
| 12 | Jalen Hurts | Philadelphia Eagles | QB | $51,000,000 |
| 13 | Will Anderson | Houston Texans | ED/DE | $50,000,000 |
| 14 | Micah Parsons | Green Bay Packers | ED/DE | $46,500,000 |
| 15 | Deshaun Watson | Cleveland Browns | QB | $46,000,000 |
| 16 | Aidan Hutchinson | Detroit Lions | ED/DE | $45,000,000 |
| 17 | Daniel Jones | Indianapolis Colts | QB | $44,000,000 |
| 18 | Jaxon Smith-Njigba | Seattle Seahawks | WR | $42,150,000 |
| 19 | Myles Garrett | Los Angeles Rams | ED/OLB | $41,640,000 |
| 20 | T.J. Watt | Pittsburgh Steelers | ED/OLB | $41,000,000 |
| 21 | Ja’Marr Chase | Cincinnati Bengals | WR | $40,250,000 |
| 22 | Danielle Hunter | Houston Texans | ED/DE | $40,100,000 |
| 23 | Jalen Carter | Philadelphia Eagles | DL/DT | $38,000,000 |
| 24 | Maxx Crosby | Las Vegas Raiders | ED/DE | $35,500,000 |
| 25 | Jeffery Simmons | Tennessee Titans | DL/DT | $35,276,000 |
| 26 | Drake London | Atlanta Falcons | WR | $35,263,500 |
| 27 | Zay Flowers | Baltimore Ravens | WR | $35,000,000 |
| 27 | Justin Jefferson | Minnesota Vikings | WR | $35,000,000 |
| 29 | Nick Bosa | San Francisco 49ers | ED/DE | $34,000,000 |
| 29 | CeeDee Lamb | Dallas Cowboys | WR | $34,000,000 |
| 31 | Sam Darnold | Seattle Seahawks | QB | $33,500,000 |
| 32 | Baker Mayfield | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | QB | $33,333,333 |
| 33 | D.K. Metcalf | Pittsburgh Steelers | WR | $33,000,000 |
| 34 | Garrett Wilson | New York Jets | WR | $32,500,000 |
| 35 | Terry McLaurin | Washington Commanders | WR | $32,333,333 |
| 36 | A.J. Brown | New England Patriots | WR | $32,000,000 |
| 37 | Chris Jones | Kansas City Chiefs | DL/DT | $31,750,000 |
| 38 | Denzel Ward | Cleveland Browns | CB | $31,100,000 |
| 39 | Trent McDuffie | Los Angeles Rams | CB | $31,000,000 |
| 39 | Chris Olave | New Orleans Saints | WR | $31,000,000 |
| 41 | Ahmad Gardner | Indianapolis Colts | CB | $30,100,000 |
| 41 | Laremy Tunsil | Washington Commanders | LT | $30,100,000 |
| 43 | Amon-Ra St. Brown | Detroit Lions | WR | $30,002,500 |
| 44 | Brandon Aiyuk | San Francisco 49ers | WR | $30,000,000 |
| 44 | Jaelan Phillips | Carolina Panthers | ED/OLB | $30,000,000 |
| 44 | Derek Stingley Jr. | Houston Texans | CB | $30,000,000 |
| 47 | Darnell Wright | Chicago Bears | RT | $29,000,000 |
| 48 | Tee Higgins | Cincinnati Bengals | WR | $28,750,000 |
| 49 | Alec Pierce | Indianapolis Colts | WR | $28,500,000 |
| 49 | Rashawn Slater | Los Angeles Chargers | LT | $28,500,000 |
| 51 | Joshua Hines-Allen | Jacksonville Jaguars | ED/DE | $28,250,000 |
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