Top NFL Quarterback Cap Hits in 2024

These are some eyebrow-raising numbers. Three of the top four quarterback cap hits for 2024 are attributable to quarterbacks who have not have made top-level contributions to their teams in the last couple of years.

• Deshaun Watson played in only six games for the Cleveland Browns in the 2022 season and also played in only six games for the team in 2023. He missed 11 games in 2022 due to suspension and posted a passer rating of only 79.1 in the six games he played. He missed the majority of the 2023 season due to a right shoulder injury that required surgery.
• Russell Wilson started in 15 games in each of his two seasons with the Denver Broncos (2022 and 2023), and the team had losing records of 4-11 and 7-8, respectively, in the 15 games Wilson started. The 2022 season was widely regarded as disappointing for the Broncos and Wilson. Moreover, Wilson was benched in the final two games of the 2023 season. Significantly, the cap hit attributable to Wilson will be absorbed by the Denver Broncos, even though Wilson is no longer on the team!
• Kyler Murray played in only 19 out of the Arizona Cardinals’ 34 games over the last two years. He suffered a torn ACL in the 2022 season, and the Cardinals finished that season with a 4-13 record. The injury also resulted in Murray missing the first nine games of the team’s 2023 campaign, and the Cardinals once again finished with a 4-13 record.

Overall, how do the quarterback cap hits correlate with the value the quarterbacks in question add to their respective teams?

Compare and Contrast Top Quarterback Cap Hits With Best in the NFL

It is interesting to compare and contrast the biggest quarterback cap hits with lists/assessments of the best quarterbacks in the league. Because rankings of the best quarterbacks necessarily entail subjectivity, several rankings from reputable sources are presented below for consideration

Based solely on performance during the 2023 season, NFL.com rates the top quarterbacks in the league as follows:

1. Lamar Jackson
2. Dak Prescott
3. Josh Allen
4. Matthew Stafford
5. Tua Tagovailoa
6. Jared Goff
7. Brock Purdy
8. C.J. Stroud
9. Patrick Mahomes
10. Kirk Cousins
11. Jordan Love
12. Joe Falcco
13. Jalen Hurts
14. Baker Mayfield
15. Trevor Lawrence
16. Joe Burrow
17. Justin Herbert
18. Geno Smith
19. Justin Fields

The 33rd Team, founded by former NFL executive Mike Tannenbaum, ranks the top quarterbacks in the NFL as follows:

1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Lamar Jackson
3. Josh Allen
4. Justin Herbert
5. Matthew Stafford
6. Dak Prescott
7. C.J. Stroud
8. Trevor Lawrence
9. Joe Burrow
10. Jordan Love
11. Kyler Murray
12. Geno Smith
13. Kirk Cousins
14. Jared Goff
15. Aaron Rodgers
16. Anthony Richardson
17. Jalen Hurts
18. Brock Purdy
19. Tua Tagovailoa

According to Sportnaut, which is a “sports media platform that engages in highly editorialized content,” the following are the best NFL quarterbacks right now:

1. Patrick Mahomes
2. Josh Allen
3. Lamar Jackson
4. Joe Burrow
5. Dak Prescott
6. Aaron Rodgers
7. Justin Herbert
8. Matthew Stafford
9. Tua Tagovailoa
10. Kirk Cousins
11. Jared Goff
12. Jordan Love
13. C.J. Stroud
14. Brock Purdy
15. Jalen Hurts
16. Trevor Lawrence
17. Russell Wilson
18. Baker Mayfield
19. Deshaun Watson

There is plenty of room to quibble with some of the selections in each of the three lists of quarterback rankings set out above. For instance, one might inquire what on earth NFL.com is thinking by rating Patrick Mahomes as the ninth-best quarterback in the league.

However, one thing is clear: The rankings reveal that there is often a substantial disparity between cap hits teams take from a particular player and the value the player adds to the team.

Indeed, Deshaun Watson only made the top 19 on one of the three lists of top quarterbacks, and, on that list, he came in 19th place. Yet, he is responsible not only for the biggest cap hit attributable to quarterbacks, but also the biggest cap hit in the entire league.

By contrast, the cap hit attributable to Matthew Stafford lines up pretty well with his ratings on the lists of top quarterbacks. The Rams take the fifth-highest quarterback cap hit in the league for Stafford, and he is ranked fourth, fifth, and eighth on the top quarterback lists.

The lesson from the foregoing seems to be that you don’t always get what you pay for.

Percentage of Team Cap Space

The 2024 NFL salary cap for each team is $255,400,000.00.

The $63,977,000 cap hit the Browns take for Deshaun Watson in 2024 takes up slightly more than 25% of the Browns’ entire cap space. By contrast, Brock Purdy, who is named on all three of the top quarterback lists above, takes up well less than ½ of 1% of the San Francisco 49ers’ 2024 cap space. The 49ers take a cap hit of $1,004,253 for Purdy in 2024.

Of course, Purdy is on a rookie contract, so the foregoing comparison/contrast could be viewed as a comparison of apples and oranges.

However, Jalen Hurts, who is not on a rookie contract, and who is rated on all three of the top quarterback lists set forth above, gives the Philadephia Eagles a cap hit of $13,558,800 in 2024, which amounts to only a little over 5% of the Eagles’ total cap space.

These facts and figures drive home the point that paying big for quarterbacks in the NFL does not always pay off.

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