Oakland Raiders quarterback Derek Carr is now the NFL’s richest man.
Carr signed a five-year, $125 million extension on Thursday. He’s getting $70 million guaranteed, according to Spotrac.
That slightly exceeds the average annual salary of the NFL’s last richest man, Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. That goober clocked in at an average of $24.769 per season when he signed his extension last year.
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers makes an average of $22 million per season. When he signed his extension in 2013, he was the richest man in the NFL based on average annual salary.
This is the nature of the NFL, however.
Rodgers currently has the seventh-highest average salary. Ahead of him are Carr, Luck, Carson Palmer, Drew Brees, Kirk Cousins and Joe Flacco.
Cousins is currently being held hostage under the one-year franchise tag. He will get a long-term deal at some point that could move him to the top of this list.
There are also rumors that the Lions, who are working on a new deal for Matthew Stafford, may make old Butterball the highest-paid player in the league.
We totally get the Carr deal. He’s young, he’s great and he’s only going to get better. Carr may very well turn into Aaron Rodgers West.
Some of these other guys being paid more than Rodgers, we have to question. Flacco, Luck, Cousins, Palmer… and most certainly Butterball.
This dance isn’t about ability, though. It’s about timing.
While I am adamantly opposed to Rodgers sucking up more of the Packers’ salary cap, the writing is on the wall.
The Packers are going to need to renegotiate/extend Rodgers’ deal. They’re probably going to need to do it sooner rather than later, even though his current deal runs through 2019. We wouldn’t be surprised if there were talks to that effect going on right now.
After all, Rodgers obviously took note when the idiot Chicago Bears gave $15 million annually to Mike Glennon.
He’s taken the public stance that the contract will take care of itself. However, it’s obviously on his mind.