[Best22]

Originally Posted by Chiefnj2

MMQB - Actual numbers that show nothing has changed in 20 years:

"I think what everyone needs to realize about quarterback contracts is that nothing’s changed. Quarterbacks at the top of the salary chain are going to make between 13 and 16 percent of the salary cap. That’s how it works. To prove it, I went back to 1997 to see the three highest-paid quarterbacks. And then I took the three highest-paid 20 years later. I found that, basically, we’re playing with Monopoly money. That’s the lesson here.


In 1997, the salary cap was $41.5 million. This year, the cap is $167 million, almost precisely four times what the cap was 20 years ago. Comparing the highest-paid passers then and now, in average salary:

Year QB Avg. Salary Pct. of Cap That Year
1997 Brett Favre $6.5 million 15.7%
1997 Troy Aikman $6.3 million 15.2%
1997 Drew Bledsoe $6.0 million 14.5%
2017 Matthew Stafford $25.3 million 15.1%
2017 Derek Carr $25.0 million 15.0%
2017 Andrew Luck $24.6 million 14.7%

So here’s what changed: nothing. What teams are paying quarterbacks, as a cut of the cap, is exactly what teams paid quarterbacks back in the day. The only argument you could make, and I would listen, is that Favre and Aikman, 20 years ago, had Super Bowl titles on their résumés. Stafford and Carr do not. That’s a valid point. But the bigger point, I think, is that quarterbacks get paid. They did then, they do now, and they will tomorrow."

Even Bledsoe won an AFC title

Meanwhile, Carr and Stafford have as many playoff wins as the man in the street