Business of Football Hall of Fame

Former Green Bay Packers executive and current lecturer, writer, and media correspondent Andrew Brandt has spent his entire adult life in the middle of or observing the business side of football. Despite graduating from Stanford, he knows all of the ins and outs of player contracts. Throughout his time on the media side of things, Brandt has often referenced the players that have truly excelled off the field. These players have done well in the Business of Football. In a recent column for Sports Illustrated, he’s taken those references even further. He inducted the inaugural members of the Business of Football Hall of Fame. These are players that truly maximized their earnings from football. 

From Brandt:

A couple of notes: This column addresses earnings only from NFL teams. Marketing and endorsement income are not part of the equation for this induction. Also, there are obviously players who have made significantly more money than some of the players below—both Manning brothers come to mind—but their earnings are not out of the ordinary for their level of talent and achievement. For the players below, their off-field success has largely outpaced their on-field success, or they have done something else notable to maximize their earnings or distinguish themselves.

The Inaugural Class of the Business of Football Hall of Fame

Quarterbacks:

Sam Bradford (Career earnings: $130 million in nine seasons)

Chase Daniel (Career earnings: $38.9 million in 12 seasons and counting)

Ryan Fitzpatrick (Career earnings: $82.1 million in 17 seasons and counting)

Kirk Cousins (Career earnings: $161.7 million in 10 seasons and counting)

Alex Smith (Career earnings: $189.7 million in 16 seasons)

Nick Foles (Career earnings: $78.4 million in 10 seasons and counting)

Non-quarterbacks:

Larry Fitzgerald (Career earnings: $180.8 million in 17 seasons)

Ndamukong Suh (Career earnings: $165 million in 11 seasons and counting)

Darrelle Revis (Career earnings: $124.2 million in 11 seasons)

Trumaine Johnson (Career earnings: $68.6 million in nine seasons and counting)

Bust Wing:

Jamarcus Russell (Career earnings: $39.4 million in three seasons)

Brock Osweiler (Career earnings: $41.4 million in seven seasons)

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While this is all in fun, I have some issues with Brandt’s selections. This “honor” seems to imply that the players have performed better in negotiations than on the field. Brandt says it himself, “their off-field success has largely outpaced their on-field success.” He does add “or they have done something else notable to maximize their earnings or distinguish themselves.” When it comes to Larry Fitzgerald and Darrelle Revis, I’m guessing that “something else” means play to a Hall of Fame level. Fitzgerald and Revis maximized their earnings by being the best in the league at their respective positions. Fitzgerald further maximized his earnings by playing at a high level for 17 seasons. If Fitzgerald and Revis have earned entry into the Business of Football Hall of Fame, every great, well-compensated player deserves entry. 

As for the quarterbacks, I always felt that Jimmy Garoppolo and the San Francisco 49ers did as much to maximize the earnings for Kirk Cousins as anything Cousins did. The next starting quarterback to sign a new deal is routinely the next highest-paid quarterback. The actual ability and production of that next highest-paid quarterback often matters little. The 49ers took their place in the progression when they made Garoppolo the league’s best-paid quarterback despite starting a handful of games. Cousins was next. It helped that the Vikings were desperate for a starting quarterback. Not only were they desperate for a starting quarterback, they were desperate for a quarterback that could be relied upon to start every game. Recent promising seasons had been wrecked by freaky injuries to their quarterbacks (Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Bradford). To the Vikings, perhaps the most significant thing that Cousins had done during his time with Washington was start every game that he was tapped to start. It was a perfect opportunity for Cousins and his agent to act on their brilliant, ballsy plan for a 100% guaranteed contract. As for Alex Smith, I’m not sure that he or his family were properly compensated for what they went through with his leg. As for Ryan Fitzpatrick, he spent 17 years signing contracts to be a team’s backup. That means that he started a bunch of games, played well in a bunch of games, brought excitement to a bunch of teams on back-up deals. He was rarely paid as a starter despite often being the starter. Is that really maximizing his earnings? Nick Foles has nearly matched Fitzpatrick’s career earnings yet has played seven fewer seasons. Fitzpatrick has done well off the field but not Chase Daniels-well, certainly not Business of Football Hall of Fame-well. 

Congratulations to the Inaugural Class!