NFL players earn money from three distinct sources: a league salary capped by team spending rules, endorsement and business income that top stars collect on the side, and personal investments some players make with their earnings. Patrick Mahomes represents the current ceiling for all three — a record-breaking contract, outsized off-field income, and a growing ownership portfolio across multiple sports. This breakdown covers how NFL salaries are structured, what the biggest contracts and career totals actually look like, and how a handful of players turn football earnings into lasting wealth through businesses and investments.
Table of Contents
- How Is NFL Player Salary Actually Structured?
- What Does the NFL's Biggest Contract Ever Look Like?
- How Much Do NFL Stars Make Off the Field?
- Which NFL Players Own Stakes in Other Teams and Businesses?
- Why a Short NFL Career Makes Off-Field Income Matter More
- Frequently Asked Questions
How Is NFL Player Salary Actually Structured?
Every NFL team operates under a shared salary cap, a league-wide limit on how much a roster can spend on player contracts in a given year. For the 2025 season, that cap sits at $279 million per team, covering all 53 players on the roster, according to Sports Illustrated's salary guide. The cap is why even the wealthiest teams can't simply outbid everyone for every star player — spending is bounded by the same number league-wide. Within that cap, pay varies enormously by role, experience, and negotiating leverage.
The current collective bargaining agreement (CBA, the labor contract between the league and the players' union) sets a 2025 rookie minimum base salary of $840,000, rising to $1.255 million for veterans with seven or more accrued seasons, as detailed in CBS Sports' rookie wage scale explainer. That floor applies to practice-squad-level depth players as much as it does to a backup quarterback. Dividing the $279 million cap evenly across 53 roster spots produces about $5.2 million per player, but that figure is a ceiling-based average, not a realistic typical salary, since most roster spots pay far closer to the minimum than to that number, per Sports Illustrated. A handful of franchise quarterbacks and elite pass rushers absorb a disproportionate share of cap space, which is part of why the gap between a star's salary and a rookie's minimum can run into the tens of millions.
What Does the NFL's Biggest Contract Ever Look Like?
Patrick Mahomes holds the largest contract in NFL history. A June 2026 restructuring locked the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback in through the 2033 season for $504.75 million, with incentives that could push the total to $522.25 million, according to the Associated Press via WTOP. It's the first deal in league history to cross half a billion dollars, averaging roughly $63-64 million per year in new money. That number dwarfs even the biggest career totals compiled under the sport's older pay scale.
Tom Brady, across 23 seasons with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, earned about $333 million in NFL salary over his entire career — $235.2 million with New England and $97.8 million with Tampa Bay — the highest career total on record before Mahomes' current deal, per CBS Sports' "Agent's Take". Mahomes' single contract now exceeds Brady's entire 23-year playing income, a reflection of how fast the cap — and quarterback pay specifically — has climbed in just a few years. Brady's total is notable for another reason: by his own agent's account, he consistently left money on the table to help his teams build around him, rather than maximizing every contract. That approach contrasts with the current market, where top quarterbacks now negotiate deals designed to set, rather than follow, the pay scale.
How Much Do NFL Stars Make Off the Field?
Playing salary is only part of the picture for the league's most marketable players. Forbes estimated Mahomes earned about $25 million in off-field income in 2024 — more than double the next-highest NFL player — driven almost entirely by endorsements and business stakes rather than his Chiefs paycheck, according to Forbes via Huddle Up.
That figure illustrates how a quarterback's brand value can rival or exceed his on-field pay, especially for a player with multiple championships and a national profile. This off-field income typically comes from endorsement deals, media appearances, and — increasingly — equity stakes in businesses rather than simple one-time sponsorship checks. For a handful of players, those stakes have turned into standing ownership positions in other companies and teams, which is where the bigger, longer-term wealth tends to accumulate.
Which NFL Players Own Stakes in Other Teams and Businesses?
Mahomes has built one of the most diversified ownership portfolios of any active player. In July 2020, he took an undisclosed minority stake in MLB's Kansas City Royals, making him one of the first active NFL players to hold equity in another major pro sports franchise, according to KBIA, a University of Missouri public radio station. He and his wife, Brittany Mahomes, also co-own the NWSL's Kansas City Current, making him the first active NFL player with equity in a women's professional soccer club, and he holds additional stakes in MLS's Sporting Kansas City and Major League Pickleball, per SportBusiness.
Together, these positions span four different sports and leagues — a breadth of ownership rare even among the NFL's highest earners. Beyond sports franchises, Mahomes has made direct startup investments, including a stake in Whoop, the wearable fitness tracker company, taken in 2020, and in Hyperice, a recovery-products company where he also serves as a brand ambassador. He's also reported to be the lead investor and second-largest shareholder in Throne Sport Coffee, according to Huddle Up and SportBusiness. That combination — team equity plus startup stakes plus an ambassador role tied to actual ownership — is the model other star athletes have increasingly tried to copy, though few have matched its scale.
Why a Short NFL Career Makes Off-Field Income Matter More
The average NFL career is widely cited as lasting about 3.3 years, but that figure traces back to a dated NFLPA roster study covering the 1987-1996 seasons, and critics note the original methodology was never fully disclosed, according to Sports Litigation Alert. A later NFLPA recount reportedly pulled the average down further by including drafted players who never played in a game, which skews the number well below what a typical active roster player experiences.
That context matters for understanding player finances: most NFL players don't stay in the league long enough to sign the kind of second or third contract that produces real financial security. It's one reason business ventures, ownership stakes, and endorsement income carry outsized importance for the players who can land them — those revenue streams aren't bound by a roster spot or a career that can end on a single play.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the NFL salary cap for 2025?
$279 million per team, the limit governing all player contracts on a 53-man roster that season, according to Sports Illustrated.
Is Patrick Mahomes' contract the largest in NFL history?
Yes. His June 2026 restructuring is worth up to $522.25 million through 2033, the first NFL deal to exceed half a billion dollars, per the Associated Press.
Who has earned the most salary over an NFL career?
Tom Brady, with about $333 million across 23 seasons with New England and Tampa Bay, according to CBS Sports.