--- title: Meet the NFL's New Highest-Paid Player, a 26-Year-Old Who Used to be Tom Brady's Backup description: San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo reportedly closed a five-year, $137.5 million deal with the NFL this week. authors: - name: Jennifer Calfas url: https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/ at_money_since: 2017 articles: 339 covers: - Lifestyle - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Education - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Loans - Personal Finance - Pets - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://x.com/jencalfas former_staff: true published: '2018-02-08T20:36:57.000Z' modified: '2024-04-17T07:49:45.000Z' section: Lifestyle tags: - Athletes - onetime word_count: 352 canonical: https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![San Francisco 49ers v Los Angeles Ram](https://img.money.com/2018/02/jimmy-garoppolo.jpg) *Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers looks to pass during the first half of a game against the Los Angeles Rams at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on December 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California.* Tom Brady's former back-up quarterback will now have a higher salary than him. San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo reportedly closed a record five-year, $137.5 million deal with the NFL this week, making him [the highest-paid athlete in the sport](https://money.com/highest-paid-nfl-player-2018/). The record-shattering salary means he'll earn $27.5 million per year. Garoppolo, who is 26 years old and was a second-round draft pick back in 2014, surpassed Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who had previously set a record with a five-year, $135 million deal in August 2017, as the highest-paid athlete in the NFL. Garoppolo left the New England Patriots in November 2017 when he was traded for the 49ers' 2018 second-round draft pick. A struggling team, the 49ers improved with Garoppolo as the starting quarterback. Garoppolo completed 67.4% of his passes for 1,560 yards last season, and the team went 5-0 in games that he started. ![San Francisco 49ers v Chicago Bears](https://img.money.com/2018/02/jimmy-garoppolo-49ers.jpg) *Jimmy Garoppolo #10 of the San Francisco 49ers looks on after a game against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on December 3, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. The 49ers won 15-14.* Before joining the 49ers, Garoppolo was Brady's back-up quarterback with the Patriots. In the wake of the [Deflategate scandal](https://time.com/3975905/tom-brady-deflategate-ruling/), he stepped in as the Patriots' starting quarterback during Brady's four-game suspension in 2016. The second-stringer had big shoes to fill, as Brady is considered one of the best quarterbacks in history. Brady currently has a two-year, $41 million contract with the Patriots. NFL quarterbacks are generally a team's highest-earning players, and salary negotiations for these top athletes get competitive. Knowing your status within the team is a big factor in how much money you can command, a NFL agent [told Money last year](https://money.com/negotiate-salary-agent-nfl-draft/). And for the 49ers, it appears Garoppolo's role is vital. Certainly, an athlete's base pay is not their only shot at a big payday. Fresh off their historic Super Bowl LII win, [Philadelphia Eagles players each earned $112,00](https://money.com/nick-foles-super-bowl-contract/) for winning. And though [Brady and the rest of the Patriots](https://money.com/how-much-will-tom-brady-make-super-bowl/) missed their shot at defending their Super Bowl title, they still earned $56,000, each. In addition, well-known athletes also earn extra cash from endorsement deals. Garoppolo's deal was first reported [by NBC Bay Area](https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/49ers-Reach-Agreement-With-QB--473412473.html) and [the NFL Network](http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000915489/article/jimmy-garoppolo-49ers-agree-on-record-5year-deal). A representative from the 49ers did not respond to a request for comment from Money. ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Lifestyle", "item": "https://money.com/lifestyle/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Sports", "item": "https://money.com/sports/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Meet the NFL's New Highest-Paid Player, a 26-Year-Old Who Used to be Tom Brady's Backup" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/", "name": "Meet the NFL's New Highest-Paid Player, a 26-Year-Old Who Used to be Tom Brady's Backup", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2018-02-08T20:36:57.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:49:45.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "Meet the NFL's New Highest-Paid Player, a 26-Year-Old Who Used to be Tom Brady's Backup", "articleSection": "Lifestyle", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/02/jimmy-garoppolo.jpg", "width": 3553, "height": 2369, "caption": "San Francisco 49ers v Los Angeles Ram" }, { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2018/02/jimmy-garoppolo-49ers.jpg", "width": 800, "height": 373 } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Jennifer Calfas", "url": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/jennifer-calfas/#author", "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/jencalfas" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2018-02-08T20:36:57.000Z", "description": "San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo reportedly closed a five-year, $137.5 million deal with the NFL this week.", "abstract": "San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo reportedly closed a five-year, $137.5 million deal with the NFL this week.", "@id": "https://money.com/jimmy-garoppolo-nfl-salary/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-17T07:49:45.000Z", "wordCount": 352, "keywords": [ "Athletes", "onetime" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Lifestyle", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifestyle" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Sport", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport" ] } ] } ] } ```