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4 Denver Broncos among top 20 highest-paid quarterbacks ever

By Sayre Bedinger

Oct 31, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Retired American football player Peyton Manning during half time event between the Washington Football Team at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 31, 2021; Denver, Colorado, USA; Retired American football player Peyton Manning during half time event between the Washington Football Team at Empower Field at Mile High. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports /
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Among the list of NFL quarterbacks with the most career earnings all-time, the Denver Broncos have four players in the top 20.

The way quarterbacks are being paid in the NFL these days, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the money made by Denver Broncos legend John Elway over an entire career is what some QBs are now making in a year.

Elway made $45.445 million over the course of his NFL career, which has been exceeded by many former Denver Broncos quarterbacks in the last 20-plus years, including Jake Plummer and even Mark Sanchez.

Believe it or not.

There are four Denver Broncos quarterbacks — past and present — among the list of the top 20 highest-earning quarterbacks of all-time. The names may very well surprise you.

Denver Broncos
Feb 5, 2009; Kapolei, HI, USA; Denver Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler (6) throws a pass at the AFC practice at Kapolei High in preparation for the 2009 Pro Bowl. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports /

Denver Broncos QB Jay Cutler among top 20 highest-earning QBs in NFL history

4. Jay Cutler career earnings: $122,196,087 (20th most all-time)

Although the Denver Broncos barely paid Jay Cutler any of his massive career earnings (at least by comparison to other teams), he ranks as one of the top 20 highest-paid signal-callers in NFL history.

Cutler was a first-round pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2006 NFL Draft, a player that former head coach Mike Shanahan staked the final years of his job in Denver to.

Cutler made it to the Pro Bowl in 2008 but with Josh McDaniels being hired in the 2009 offseason, Cutler was traded to the Bears and the trajectory of the Denver Broncos was forever changed.

The Jay Cutler trade sent the Denver Broncos into the football multiverse at the quarterback position, and a world now exists where Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson will don the orange and blue as part of the domino effect of that trade.

Who could have known that just three years after the Jay Cutler trade, the Denver Broncos would sign Peyton Manning in free agency?

It was tough to see that forest through the trees of trading what appeared to be a young, star quarterback at the time.

Cutler wound up having a very solid NFL career with the Bears and Dolphins but never did anything spectacular. He had stretches of play where he looked dominant, but overall, Cutler reached the playoffs just once — in the 2010 season — in his entire playing career.

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