Eagles extend Jalen Hurts: How much are QB contracts actually rising in relation to NFL’s salary cap?

Jalen Hurts is the highest-paid player in NFL history after his lucrative extension with the Eagles on Monday. The star quarterback will earn an average of $51 million per year over the life of his $255M deal, which ties him to Philadelphia through 2028.

Hurts resetting the QB market isn’t exactly surprising. He’s a 24-year-old MVP candidate coming off a historic Super Bowl effort, and signal-callers always command top dollar. Just ask the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson, whose offseason has been headlined by an attempt to secure his own record payout, either in or outside of Baltimore.

But how much have QBs actually increased in value to NFL teams over the years? We all know that the top QB salaries escalate from year to year, essentially allowing the next elite one to sign to become the new owner of the biggest deal ever. (It’s why, come September, Hurts may well trail both the Bengals’ Joe Burrow and Chargers’ Justin Herbert in the contract race.)

One way to test whether QB deals have actually gotten bigger is to assess them in light of the salary cap. The cap tends to rise each year, so which QBs are putting a bigger dent in their respective teams’ payroll?

Here’s a look at the top QB contracts signed in each of the last 20 years:

Note: Total contract values and APY (average per-year) values are rounded to the nearest millionth. Also: The percent-of-salary-cap totals listed below incorporate a player’s new-money APY. For example, Jalen Hurts’ extension won’t technically begin until 2024, after his rookie contract expires, so he’ll be significantly cheaper to the Eagles in 2023. We are instead focusing on what percentage of the current cap he (and other QBs) absorb with future annual earnings.