Fewer than two years ago, Andrew Luck became the richest player in NFL history, signing a six-year extension with the Colts. Over the life of the contract, Luck is set to pocket $140 million (it actually was a five-year, $123M extension on his existing deal), and his annual and total salaries in June of 2016 were the largest in the league:
Oh, how times have changed...
Just yesterday, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan became the first $30 million/year player in NFL history and helped push Luck farther down the yearly QB salary chart. Just how far down? Luck isn't even in the top-five at his own position (via Sportrac.com):
If you still count gross contract worth, then Luck comes in at fifth, but that doesn't take into account older quarterbacks like Drew Brees getting huge money on shorter-term deals.
Will it end up being a bargain or a bust? Obviously, that's contingent on whether or not Luck can get healthy, but if he can, this extension should age well. It's not too far fetched to think that by the time Luck gets into the back-half of the deal, he'll drop out of the top ten entirely.