Apparently these figures come from Forbes. Signing bonuses are a big factor in these yearly figures. Prescott was the highest earner last year with $87m largely thanks to a $66m signing bonus when he got his new contract.REVEALED: Tom Brady becomes NFL's highest-paid player for the first time on $75MILLION as he takes home more than Super Bowl champ Matthew Stafford and Aaron Rodgers in an all-QB top 10
1. Tom Brady - $75m ($30m on field, $45m off field)
2. Matthew Stafford - $65.5m ($61.5m on field, $4m off field)
3. Aaron Rodgers - $53m ($42m on field, $11m off field)
4. Patrick Mahomes - $51.5m ($29.5m on field, $22m off field)
5. Josh Allen - $51m ($47m on field, $4m off field)
6. Deshaun Watson - $46.2m ($45.7m on field, $500,000 off field)
7. Kirk Cousins - $42.5m ($40m on field, $2.5m)
8. Russell Watson - $38m ($24m on field, $14m off field)
9. Kyler Murray - $33.5m ($30m on field, $3.5m off field)
10. Dak Prescott - $33m ($20m on field, $13m off field)
Full article: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/nfl/a ... l#comments
There's quite a variance in off-field earnings. No surprise that Watson's not making much - in fact it's surprising he's still getting $500,000 from somewhere! Stafford's Super Bowl win doesn't seem to have resulted in a major influx of extra cash, but with those on field earnings he's doing OK.