Do you wonder which NFL legends would command the highest salary in 2025? Check out our study analysing how much iconic NFL names would earn today's league.
The salary cap in the NFL continues to increase year on year and this means we are seeing bigger contracts than ever before being signed. This got Betway thinking, just how much would some NFL icons who played in the earlier salary cap eras get paid in today’s league.
Well, to find out, we looked at a handful of NFL legends, gathered their peak annual salary and analysed what percentage of the cap they took up. We then translated that to the 2025 NFL salary cap ($279,200,000), which gave us the new salary for that player.
It also must be stressed that the salaries in this study are just the minimum we believe these legends would earn today. As Micah Parsons’ recent $46.5 million a year deal shows, the next man up for an extension is usually the highest paid. So, some of the names we looked at would likely earn even more than the stated amount.
According to the data, NFL Hall of Famer and current Colorado Buffaloes Head Coach Deion Sanders would be primed for the biggest legend’s salary in 2025. Sanders’ highest average annual salary was over 10 million dollars which took up 17.98% of the cap back in 1999.
This means Sanders’ 2025 salary could be a whopping $50,198,296 which would be a huge increase of 387%. In comparison, the actual highest paid cornerback in the NFL right now is Sauce Gardner whose contract has an average annual value (AAV) of just over $30 million.
The data shows that Troy Aikman would be in line for a salary increase of 387% too. The former quarterback won three Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s and our data says that he would be paid a minimum of $46,299,400 today. Ironically, the current Cowboys signal caller Dak Prescott has the highest AAV in the NFL ($60,000,000).
The following table highlights how much a selection of NFL icons would earn in 2025.
Player | Position | Annual Salary ($) | 2025 Salary ($) | % Increase |
Deion Sanders | CB | 10,300,000 | 50,198,296 | 387% |
Troy Aikman | QB | 9,500,000 | 46,299,400 | 387% |
Peyton Manning | QB | 19,200,000 | 44,449,751 | 132% |
Steve Young | QB | 8,195,833 | 43,679,403 | 433% |
John Elway | QB | 7,767,000 | 41,393,953 | 433% |
Dan Marino | QB | 5,766,667 | 39,507,605 | 585% |
Michael Strahan | DE | 8,000,000 | 38,988,968 | 387% |
Emmitt Smith | RB | 5,714,286 | 38,486,724 | 574% |
Barry Sanders | RB | 5,583,333 | 37,604,732 | 574% |
Michael Vick | QB | 16,000,000 | 37,110,696 | 132% |
The importance of the running back position is a point of debate in today’s NFL. While current backs such as Saquon Barkley, Derrick Henry and Christian McCaffrey have helped fans see the value of having an elite back, others say the position isn’t as important as other non-quarterback positions, such as wide receiver or offensive tackle.
Legendary running backs Emmitt Smith and Barry Sanders, who played in eras where the position was highly valued, would be by far the highest paid backs in the league right now, according to the numbers. The pair would receive an annual salary of $38,486,724 and $37,604,732 respectively.
Meanwhile, Barkley is the highest paid at the position today when looking at AAV. Barkley is paid an average salary of $20,600,000.
So that is how much the legends of the sport could earn in today’s game, and if the salary cap continues to grow, then the contract values in the decades to come could be even more jaw dropping than what they are now. If you would like to see similar content to this, as well as the latest NFL odds during the 2025 NFL Regular Season, please head over to our NFL page!
Methodology
This dataset ranks NFL players, based on what their peak annual salary would be in the 2025 market.
To do this, we calculated the percentage of the NFL spending cap which is being spent on that player in that year and then used this percentage in combination with the 2025 salary cap to get the 2025 salary conversion.
Players were then ranked from highest to lowest based on their 2025 converted salaries.
All data is correct as of September 2025.
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