Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Dak Prescott Ranks 4th on World’s Highest Paid Athletes of 2025 List, 4 More Quarterbacks Find Place in Top 20!

5 NFL quarterbacks make it in the Forbes top 20 highest-paid athletes list!

Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

For today’s top athletes, money is never a problem; it may be a concern depending on their lifestyle and the market, but it is never a worry keeping them awake at night. Nowadays, players are striking record-setting deals with teams and earning massive amounts of income.

But, for a select few who are marketable athletes as well, their income off the field also reaches mind-boggling figures that the common man can only dream of making. Anyway, Forbes recently released a list of the top 20 highest-paid athletes of 2025, and there are some truly remarkable figures – I mean, in terms of athletes and numbers both!

While Cristiano Ronaldo has bagged the top spot with $275 million before taxes for the third year running, and for the fifth time in his career, the NFL has its own share of players breaking into the top 20, with Cowboys’ quarterback Dak Prescott leading the way at number 4 overall.

Highest Paid NFL Quarterbacks in the Top 20 in 2025

A starting caliber quarterback in the NFL is making tons of money these days with multi-year contracts raking in multi-million dollars, but even then, there are some signal callers earning much more than others.

Dak Prescott – $137 Million

Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott leads all NFL players with a combined total of $137 million from his on-field and off-field contracts. Prescott set a new league record with his latest contract extension worth $240 million over 4 years in September 2024. His deal earns him $60 million on average annually and has a guarantee of $231 million.

However, after restructuring his contract with the team to free up some cash, Prescott converted $45.75 million of his base salary for 2025 into a signing bonus, which played a significant role in elevating his earnings for the year.

Prescott is a popular sporting icon in Texas and his superstar popularity in the game has earned him plenty of endorsement deals including big name brands such as Nike’s Jordan Brand, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Lowe’s. The 31-year-old is the only NFL player in the top 10.

Cowboys QB Dak Prescott had a solid day in the final full-speed mandatory minicamp practice.

He went 9-for-12 in the team period and led a 70-yard TD drive during a 2-minute drill on 6-for-8 passing.

Highlight of the day came on a 22-yard seam route TD to TE Jake Ferguson. pic.twitter.com/nWA62cyD7w
— Nick Harris (@NickHarrisFWST) June 11, 2025

Deshaun Watson – $91.8 Million

Cleveland Browns’ QB, Deshaun Watson, comes in second among NFL players, and 15th overall on this list with $91.8 million. Watson is still on his huge record-breaking fully guaranteed contract worth $230 million, which he signed with the Browns in 2022. After restructuring his deal, Watson will also earn close to $45 million in a restructuring bonus this year.

Patrick Mahomes – 86.8 Million

3-time Super Bowl Champion, Patrick Mahomes, makes his presence in the top 20, coming in at number 18 with $86.8 million. Mahomes signed one of sports’ biggest deals when he signed a ten-year, $450 million contract with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020. This year, the Chiefs’ QB is set to earn roughly $47.74 million through his restructured contract.

Jordan Love – $83 Million

Packers’ signal caller, Jordan Love, is next at number 19 with $83 million. Last year, Love signed a 4-year extension worth $220 million with an average annual salary of $55 million and a signing bonus of $75 million.

Jared Goff – 80.8 Million

The last NFL player on the list is Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, taking the final spot at number 20 with $80.8 million. Similar to Prescott and Love, Goff also signed an extension for 4 years worth $212 million, including a signing bonus of $73 million, and an average annual salary of $53 million.

Highest Paid Athletes By Sport

As mentioned earlier, Cristiano Ronaldo leads all athletes as the highest-paid sports personality with $275 million in 2025. However, what is surprising is the huge gap between him and number two on the list, Steph Curry, whose total is $156 million, a record in itself for the NBA.

Professional boxer, Tyson Fury, is third overall, and the top earning boxer with $146 million, while Juan Soto’s $114 million places him 1st in the MLB, but 7th overall. John Rahm, with a $100 million, is the highest-paid golfer at number 12.

Here is a breakdown of the top 20 athletes and their total earnings as per Forbes.

Rank	Player	Sport	Total earnings
1	Rory McIlroy	Soccer	$275M
2	Steph Curry	NBA	$176M
3	Tyson Fury	Boxing	$156M
4	*Dak Prescott*	*NFL*	*$137M*
5	Lionel Messi	Soccer	$135M
6	LeBron James	NBA	$133.8M
7	Juan Soto	MLB	$114M
8	Karim Benzema	Soccer	$104M
9	Shohei Ohtani	MLB	$102.5M
10	Kevin Durant	NBA	$101.4M
11	Oleksandr Usyk	Boxing	$101M
12	John Rahm	Golf	$100M
13	Giannis Antetokounmpo	NBA	$94.4M
14	Scottie Scheffler	Golf	$92.5M
15	*Deshaun Watson*	*NFL*	*$91.8M*
16	Kylian Mbappe	Soccer	$90M
17	Rory Mcllroy	Golf	$87.9M
18	*Patrick Mahomes*	*NFL*	*$86.8M*
19	*Jordan Love*	*NFL*	*$83M*
20	*Jared Goff*	*NFL*	*$80.8M*

The World's Highest-Paid Athletes Of 2025:

Dak Prescott at No. 4 🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/V5pCPOOY3z
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) June 11, 2025

Also Read: Chiefs WR Rashee Rice Making Remarkable Progress at OTAs Following Knee Injury Rehab

As per the highest-paid players according to sports, the NFL has 5 players in the top 20, Soccer and the NBA have 4 players each, followed by 3 in Golf, 2 in Boxing, and 2 from the MLB. Looking at the table above, it is interesting to note how much money some of these sporting legends are making, and how they stack up to other athletes.

Dak Prescot

Deshaun Watson

Jared Goff

Jordan Love

NFL

Patrick Mahomes

Devavrat Kulkarni

nfl

I am a content writer for the NFL team, and joined The Playoffs after working with Sportskeeda and NFL Analysis as an NFL writer. After starting my professional career as a French-to-English translator, working as a content writer is a new adventure for me. I started out in the sports media field for two main reasons: my love for sports in general, especially the NFL, NBA, and Tennis, as well as my passion for writing. The best part of this job is that I get to write a variety of pieces with the freedom to explore content from various angles. It also enables me to stay up to date with the sporting world, which otherwise can be difficult to do in the day-to-day grind. In a world full of chaos, sports unite and entertain like nothing else!