No doubt the big game is on a majority of Quad Citians’ minds this weekend, and many have dreamed of taking the field with their favorite teams. Of course, fame and fortune is a huge attraction for many, how much do top football players make for actual game play?

The team at All Home Connections wanted to find out, so they looked at NFL data to find out how much the top quarterbacks in the league made per minute of game time in 2020. Aside from rigorous training and inevitable injuries, the results may make you wish you really were a star in the big league.

To find the salary breakdown, the team calculated the estimated total time played for every professional first-string quarterback for each NFL football team in the 2020 season. They calculated the number of total snaps in the regular season and playoff games and multiplied that by their offense’s average seconds per play. This number was then divided by their 2020 earnings to find out how much they made per hour of playing time and the per minute rate. The data is based on 2020 NFL rosters, and because of transactions, select quarterbacks may have switched teams since the data was pulled.

Taking top honors was Jacoby Brissett of the Indianapolis Colts with an average of $956,975 per minute of playing time. Here is the top ten of highest-paid players in the study by per-minute averages:

1. Jacoby Brissett, Indianapolis Colts – $956,975
2. Easton Stick, Los Angeles Chargers – $841,754
3. Matt Schaub, Atlanta Falcons – $601,570
4. Case Keenum, Cleveland Browns – $399,061
5. Marcus Mariota, Las Vegas Raiders – $297,110
6. Tyrod Taylor, Los Angeles Chargers – $226,159
7. Nate Sudfeld, Philadelphia Eagles – $217,419
8. Joshua Dobbs, Pittsburgh Steelers – $198,413
9. Nathan Peterman, Las Vegas Raiders – $192,400
10. Jameis Winston, New Orleans Saints – $114,638

By the numbers:

• Tom Brady was #21 for income per minute of playing time but is the the top NFL earner of all time with pay totaling over $291 million over 22 seasons.
• Jacoby Brissett averaged $956,975 per minute of playing time after playing only 22 minutes and 20 seconds in 2020.
• Russell Wilson is the highest paid quarterback on the list, bringing in $31 million in 2020, but at over eight hours of game time, he made over $3.7 million per hour. 
• Joe Burrow was last on the list at $1,848 per minute, but he earned $610,000 in 2020, more than seven times the annual household income of $79,900.
• Aaron Rodgers played the most of any NFL quarterback in 2020 with 8 hours and 47 minutes of game time, but his annual income averaged to $41,024 per minute, landing at #32 in this report.

To see the full report, click here.

Did your favorite players make the list?