The Cincinnati Bengals have officially made superstar quarterback Joe Burrow the highest-paid player in NFL history with a five-year, $275 million contract. That’s a $55 million average annual value.
Compared to the other major sports, that only ranks behind Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets, who has won two of the last three MVP awards. He is playing on a five-year $276,122,630 contract, which barely edges out Burrow’s AAV at just over $55.2 million.
MLB is the next closest, with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander – who have since been traded – signed AAV contracts of $43.3 million per year.
Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche in the NHL makes an average of $12.6 million per year. This puts him at last of the highest-paid players in the major sports, which admittedly is a pretty good list to be last in.
Regardless, Burrow is helping to set new standards for the professional sports world, something all of the high-level quarterbacks have been doing lately.
Highest Average Paid Player per League (2023 season)
NBA: Nikola Jokic, $55.2M
NFL: Joe Burrow, $55M
MLB: Scherzer/Verlander, $43.3M
NHL: Nathan MacKinnon, $12.6M— Spotrac (@spotrac) September 8, 2023
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