Interesting story on NFL player licensing royalties this morning.
Cleveland QB Shedeur Sanders (son of the legendary Deion “Prime Time” Sanders) just nearly doubled Tom Brady’s all time record in player licensing fees. The $17.7 million he received in royalties for 2025 was more than 20 times his NFL salary of $840,000/year.
The star quarterback was expected to be among the Top 5 players taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, but many NFL owners didn’t like his cocky attitude and literally blackballed him. He was drafted at the 144th pick.
Most player royalty through the NFLPA come from group licensing deals, which compensate players for jersey sales, trading cards, video games, and other collectibles.
Who ever signed that deal is probably in line to get fired soon. Right now, they just lit a pile of money on fire.
That’s correct. So you have to be selling some jerseys, trading cards, or crypto to get an outsized payment. Shedeur was also a top NIL earner in college.
When it comes to money, marketing prowess can ellipse athletic performance (though I’m pretty sure Shedeur was better than Dillon Gabriel.)