High-Priced Quarterbacks Not Delivering Bang for Megabucks

The Green Bay Packers’ Jordan Love is injured. So is Tua Tagovailoa. Dak Prescott is among the high-priced quarterbacks off to slow starts. It’s early, but the megabucks quarterbacks aren’t providing much return on investment.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love vs. the Eagles in Week 1 in Sao Paulo. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

 

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Once upon a time, athletes gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated were jinxed. Next, it was NFL stars on the cover of Madden.

Now, it’s mega-contract quarterbacks.

Without a good quarterback, a team has no chance for success. Sure, there will be week-to-week success but, if winning the Super Bowl is the goal – which it should be – that requires a great quarterback to even be in the conversation.

That’s no secret, which is why quarterback salaries have exploded at a rate that has blown past the outsized importance of the position.

The Green Bay Packers extended quarterback Jordan Love’s contract at the start of training camp. It was a no-brainer decision, really.

Love got hot at the end of last season and helped carry the Packers to the playoffs and even a postseason win. So, the Packers gave him a new contract because, well, what other choice did they have? Start Sean Clifford?

However, the price tag was breathtaking. His $55.0 million average salary briefly tied him for the highest-paid player in the history of the sport.

For what? A sensational second half of the season and the potential of being the franchise’s next great quarterback.

The danger of handing franchise-shifting contracts to quarterbacks who might not be franchise-shifting players became evident to start this season.

That point was almost hammered home for Love and the Packers. In the final moments of the Week 1 loss to Philadelphia, Love suffered a knee injury. Fortunately, he’ll only miss a game or two rather than the full season.

Here is a look at the highest-paid quarterbacks.

Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys

Contract: $60.0 million per season.

Love thoroughly dominated Prescott in the quarterback matchup in the playoffs, but Prescott reset the quarterback market with a four-year extension worth $240 million. He is 2-5 in seven playoff starts, including 1-3 at home. This year, the Cowboys are 1-1 and Prescott is 22nd in passer rating, his 81.4 down dramatically from last year’s 105.9.

Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers

Contract: $55.0 million per season.

What if Love just got hot? What if he suffers a disastrous injury? The dead-money charges would cripple the team financially. To move on after the 2025 season would result in almost $59 million of dead money on the cap. Including the Week 1 loss, the Packers are 9-10 in his starts. Love was not sharp before the injury and is 20th in passer rating this year.

Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals

Contract: $55.0 million per season.

Burrow is a great player. He won Comeback Player of the Year in 2021, when he led the Bengals to the Super Bowl, and finished fourth in MVP voting in 2022, when he led them to an epic AFC Championship Game. However, he started only 10 games last year due to a wrist injury that required surgery. The Bengals went 5-5 with him and 4-3 without him in 2023. They are 0-2 in 2024 and he’s 10th in passer rating.

Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

Contract: $55.0 million per season.

Lawrence earned his huge contract after throwing 25 touchdowns vs. eight interceptions and leading a historic playoff comeback in 2022. In 2023, he threw 21 touchdown passes vs. 14 interceptions as the Jags missed the playoffs for the second time in his three seasons. In 2024, the Jags are 0-2 and he’s completed only 51.0 percent of his passes. He is 21st in passer rating.

Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins

Contract: $53.1 million per season.

Everyone knows Tagovailoa’s scary history with concussions, with a stark and scary reminder last week against Buffalo. Tagovailoa led the NFL in passer rating in 2022 and passing yards in 2023 but is out indefinitely again. He lost his only career playoff start. This year, Miami is 1-1 and Tagovailoa is 24th in passer rating.

Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

Contract: $53.0 million per season.

Goff led the Rams to the Super Bowl in 2018. Will he be good enough to push the powerful Lions over the finish line? Obviously, all the 2024 passing numbers referenced in this story are based on small sample sizes. For what it’s worth, the Lions are 1-1 and Goff is 25th in passer rating with one touchdown and three picks. He had four drives to rally the Lions to victory over the Buccaneers last week but fell short.

Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

Contract: $52.5 million

Herbert was Rookie of the Year in 2020, a Pro Bowler in 2021 and ninth in MVP voting in 2022. Last year, the Chargers won five of his 13 starts as he missed the playoffs for the third time in his four years. This year, the Chargers are 2-0 but Herbert has thrown for only 274 yards. He’s 11th in passer rating.

Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Contract: $52.0 million

Jackson is coming off his second MVP season. He will make his 80th career start this week and owns a record of 58-21 and a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 2.77. In the playoffs, however, he’s 2-4 with six touchdown passes and six interceptions. Will he ever be a good enough passer to win big in the playoffs? This year, the Ravens are a stunning 0-2; it’s one thing losing at the Chiefs but at home against Las Vegas? He’s 18th in passer rating.

Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles

Contract: $51.0 million.

After finishing MVP runner-up in 2022, Hurts signed his big contract in 2023. He was in MVP contention until the Eagles imploded with one win in their final seven games. The Eagles are a dropped pass from Saquon Barkley from being 2-0 to start this season, though his three interceptions are why he’s 19th in passer rating.

Other high-priced quarterbacks aren’t living up to their budget-busting paychecks.

Arizona’s Kyler Murray, who is 10th with $46.1 million per season, is 29-37-1 as a starter and played in a combined 19 games the previous two seasons. He’s off to an excellent start to this season, though, with four touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 122.9 passer rating as the Cardinals are 1-1.

Cleveland’s Deshaun Watson, who is 11th at $46.0 million per season, was acquired in a blockbuster trade that helped build the Texans into a rising power. Watson started six games in 2022, six games again in 2023 and has a 63.0 passer rating to start this season.

Thanks to the exploding quarterback market, the Giants’ Daniel Jones ranks only 15th at $40.0 million per season. He is 22-38-1 as a starter. Re-signed before the start of free agency in 2023, the Giants are 1-7 in his starts. He threw two touchdowns vs. six interceptions in 2023 and has completed just 54.3 percent of his passes in 2024 for the winless Giants.

The Denver Broncos whacked Russell Wilson, deciding to stomach $85 million in dead money to get rid of the diminished passer. They’re 0-2 but at least Bo Nix is cheap.

As Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame recently wrote in a lengthy story on the topic:

“Looking across the league, there are only a few quarterbacks truly worth bogging down a team’s salary cap. Patrick Mahomes. Josh Allen. Joe Burrow. Lamar Jackson. Beyond them, it’s hard arguing against paying Justin Herbert, Aaron Rodgers and Matthew Stafford. After that, we’re talking about middling talents, low-end starters or youngsters with unknown futures.”

Eight teams are 2-0, including the Chiefs and Bills, who are led by the legendary Patrick Mahomes, who is 12th in annual salary, and the elite Josh Allen, who is 14th.

The others: the Chargers (led by Herbert, who has done a lot of handing off), Texans (rookie-contract C.J. Stroud, who is 27th in annual salary), Steelers (Justin Fields is 41st), Buccaneers (Baker Mayfield, who has rekindled his career, is 19th), Saints (Derek Carr, who was discarded by the Raiders, is 17th), Vikings (backup Sam Darnold, who is 22nd) and Seahawks (Geno Smith, who has restarted his career, is 20th).

The moral to the story is if you pay your quarterback like he’s an elite player, he better be capable of delivering elite play when it matters.

If Love is that kind of elite player, capable of beating Prescott and Hurts in the NFC playoffs and Mahomes and Allen in a Super Bowl, then it will be money well spent. If not, it will be a long, long time before the title returns to Titletown.

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