Andrew Luck Is Now the Highest-Paid Player in NFL History

And some say the $140 million Colts QB should be making even more.

Andrew Luck, the NFL quarterback who most resembles a youth pastor, has signed a new contract with the Indianapolis Colts making him the highest-paid player in the National Football League. The deal, worth $140 million over six years, includes a guaranteed $87 million.

That’s $22 million more than the previous record, set by Eli Manning last year. His $23.3 million annual salary eclipses Aaron Rodgers’ previous record of $22 million a year and the $140 milloin total is $8 million more than the $132 million extension Calvin Johnson signed in 2012, the biggest contract in NFL history until Luck’s.

Amazingly, some people think Luck didn’t get enough. And really, ti’s a pretty easy argument to make. The 26-year-old is a top ten NFL quarterback who’s only getting better. In the next few years, as retirement and decline hit for Tom Brady, Drew Brees, Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger, he’ll easily enter the top five. 

A top-tier quarterback has never had the leverage he has. And yet, he’ll get paid only 6 percent more each year than Aaron Rodgers, whose monster contract came in 2013. In the three years since Rodgers signed, the NFL salary cap has increased 26 percent. 

The Colts may have just inked Luck to the biggest contract in NFL history, but it’s pretty clear they got a steal.