From Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen to Tyreek Hill and DK Metcalf, Boardroom celebrates the postseason performers earning the biggest NFL bags.
Making sense of the conventions of the NFL salary structure can be an awfully confusing pursuit.
Thanks to the intricacies of the league’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association, the total value of a player’s contract might be identical to both its salary cap footprint and the actual amount that ends up in his wallet before the taxman cometh. In many other cases, those three numbers could be wildly divergent from one another thanks to a mishmash of bonuses and incentives or the ways in which the salary cap accounts for base salary vs. bonus money differently.
On a related note, this means that the answer to a seemingly basic question — “who is the highest-paid NFL player?” — could have three different answers depending on whether you’re measuring by (a) 2022 salary, (b) total contract value, or (c) average annual contract value.
Fortunately, there will be no exam at the end of this story regarding the minutiae of the league’s CBA. But as the NFL postseason arrives, we set out to define who the best-paid guy in each of the three above categories happens to be for each playoff team.
Read on to find out which players lead their teams in all three of those metrics, earning them the mythical and much-sought-after Boardroom Triple Crown.
Click here to read Boardroom’s roundup of the highest-paid NFL players overall for the 2022 season.
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Every 2022-23 NFL Playoff Team’s Highest-paid Player
All salary data via Spotrac.
Baltimore Ravens
- Highest 2022 salary: QB Lamar Jackson ($23,016,000)
- Biggest contract by total value: OT Ronnie Stanley (five years, $98,750,000)
- Biggest contract by average annual value: OT Ronnie Stanley ($19,750,000)
Buffalo Bills
- Highest 2022 salary: WR Stefon Diggs ($24,580,000)
- Biggest contract (total): QB Josh Allen (six years, $258,034,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): QB Josh Allen ($43,005,667)
Cincinnati Bengals
- Highest 2022 salary: DT B.J. Hill ($15,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): DE Trey Hendrickson (four years, $60,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): DE Trey Hendrickson ($15,000,000)
Dallas Cowboys
- Highest 2022 salary: QB Dak Prescott ($20,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): QB Dak Prescott (four years, $160,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): QB Dak Prescott ($40,000,000)
Click here for Boardroom’s overview of the Cowboys’ biggest contracts and overall salary cap usage.
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Highest 2022 salary: WR Christian Kirk ($24,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): WR Christian Kirk (four years, $72,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): WR Christian Kirk, OT Cam Robinson ($18,000,000)
Kansas City Chiefs
- Highest 2022 salary: QB Patrick Mahomes ($29,450,000)
- Biggest contract (total): QB Patrick Mahomes (10 years, $450,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): QB Patrick Mahomes ($45,000,000)
Los Angeles Chargers
- Highest 2022 salary: CB J.C. Jackson, WR Mike Williams ($28,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): OLB Khalil Mack (six years, $141,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): OLB Joey Bosa ($27,000,000)
Miami Dolphins
- Highest 2022 salary: WR Tyreek Hill ($26,885,000)
- Biggest contract (total): WR Tyreek Hill (four years, $120,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): WR Tyreek Hill ($30,000,000)
Minnesota Vikings
- Highest 2022 salary: QB Kirk Cousins ($40,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): OT Brian O’Neill (five years, $92,500,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): Kirk Cousins ($35,000,000)
New York Giants
- Highest 2022 salary: OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux ($20,677,028)
- Biggest contract (total): WR Kenny Golladay (four years, $72,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): DE Leonard Williams ($21,000,000)
Philadelphia Eagles
- Highest 2022 salary: WR A.J. Brown ($24,220,000)
- Biggest contract (total): WR A.J. Brown (four years, $100,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): WR A.J. Brown ($25,000,000)
San Francisco 49ers
- Highest 2022 salary: WR Deebo Samuel ($25,200,000)
- Biggest contract (total): OT Trent Williams (six years $138,060,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): OT Trent Williams ($23,010,000)
Seattle Seahawks
- Highest 2022 salary: WR D.K. Metcalf ($31,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): WR D.K. Metcalf (three years, $72,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): WR D.K. Metcalf ($24,000,000)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Highest 2022 salary: QB Tom Brady ($30,000,000)
- Biggest contract (total): WR Mike Evans (five years, $82,000,000)
- Biggest contract (AAV): WR Chris Godwin ($20,000,000)
Boardroom’s “Triple Crown” Contracts of the 2023 NFL Postseason
Our honor roll of players who lead their respective teams in 2022 earnings, total contract value, and average annual contract value.
- Cowboys QB Dak Prescott
- Jaguars WR Christian Kirk
- Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
- Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill
- Eagles WR A.J. Brown
- Seahawks WR D.K. Metcalf
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