The biggest college football stars of every season always have bright futures ahead of them as NFL prospects, and many create fruitful careers for themselves at the next level. Michigan, Texas, Alabama, Florida State and Washington will be well represented among NFL rookies next year after they accounted for the most picks at the 2024 NFL Draft, and there is a strong chance many in that group will sign lucrative contracts throughout their time in the pros.
As annual salaries continue to rise for the sport’s best players, so too do college football programs’ combined career earnings among alumni. The teams with the most draft picks often rank among the highest earners, but one or two NFL stars can also single handedly boost a school’s profile — like Aaron Rodgers for California.
Among active players (excluding rookies, who will finalize their contracts over the coming months), Alabama again leads all schools in 2024 earnings, per spotrac.com data.
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Here are the college football programs with the highest annual NFL earnings for the 2024 season:
Notre Dame is an offensive lineman factory. Five of the Fighting Irish’s top six active NFL players in career earnings hail from that position group with Dallas Cowboys guard Zack Martin leading the way. That tradition should continue for years to come after star left tackle Joe Alt became the top Notre Dame product and No. 1 offensive lineman off the board at the 2024 draft. Veteran safety Harrison Smith represents the defensive side of the ball well, though, as the school’s No. 3 earner to date. He will rake in $9 million in his age-35 season with the Minnesota Vikings.
Star quarterback Justin Herbert accounts for approximately one-third of Oregon’s alumni earnings for the 2024 contact year. Of the $56.6 million he earns this season, nearly all of that cash comes from the signing bonus attached to his massive rookie extension, which takes him through 2029 as the face of the Los Angeles Chargers. Defensive tackle DeForest Buckner remains the program’s top all-time earner while his former San Francisco 49ers teammate Arik Armstead and veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota stand in the school’s top five career earners, as well.
Dak Prescott is in the middle of contract talks yet again with the Dallas Cowboys as he enters the final year of a four-year, $160 million deal. As it stands, he will earn $34 million in cash this season with the vast majority of that money coming from a $29 million base salary. It is not as though Mississippi State relies solely on Prescott’s large contract to rank among the top 10 schools in 2024 cash, though, as each of the program’s top eight career earners are active players. Kansas City defensive tackle Chris Jones has the largest non-quarterback contract at five years, $158.75 million.
Matthew Stafford is far and away Georgia’s leader in career earnings as he will have pocketed $422.3 million by the end of his current contract — more than twice the next-highest earner in school history. The Los Angeles Rams owe their veteran quarterback $31 million this year in base salary. Rising offensive tackle Andrew Thomas had the second-highest annual salary last year and will enjoy his greatest single-season earnings in 2024 when the New York Giants award him more than $20 million in salary and bonuses. The lengthy list of former Bulldogs in the NFL continued to grow at this year’s draft, where two of the program’s nine selections came in the first round.
Texas A&M’s top player in career earnings might be near the end of his career as quarterback Ryan Tannehill remains a free agent ahead of his age-36 season. He could slip from the top of the leaderboard in the not-so-distant future with Von Miller set to reap the greatest benefits of his six-year contract with the Buffalo Bills from 2025-2028 — a stretch across which his base salary increases from $1.5 million to just shy of $30 million. Offensive lineman Jake Matthews, wide receiver Mike Evans and defensive end Myles Garrett are other notable former Aggies with hefty earnings.
A 2024 first-round pick, Nate Wiggins will earn nearly $7 million in the first year of his four-year, $12.8 million contract, but his deal is excluded from Clemson’s total tally here given that he is one of just a handful of rookies to sign with their new teams. The Tigers rank fifth among college football teams in 2024 NFL earnings regardless, with Deshaun Watson accounting for a major chunk of that money. This is the third year of his massive deal with the Cleveland Browns, which pays out $46 million per year.
The Bosa brothers are two of Ohio State’s four top career earners and combine for a good fraction of the Buckeyes’ 2024 alumni pay. Nick Bosa receives just shy of $17 million from the San Francisco 49ers this season, while Joey Bosa brings home $15 million a few hours down the road with the Los Angeles Chargers. The 2024 draft was not one of Ohio State’s strongest given that many of its top eligible players elected to return for what could be a huge season, but this program is a pipeline to the NFL and will rank among the highest-earning alumni bases for the foreseeable future.
Joe Burrow maintains in 2024 the highest average annual base salary in the league with his five-year, $275 million deal with the Cincinnati Bengals. He is already the top career earner in LSU football history and will only expand on his lead over the seasons to come. This year is the most lucrative of the five for Burrow, who pockets $65.7 million. Elite Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson also gets a pay bump this year to just shy of $20 million and stands to see that number balloon as he enters unrestricted free agency for the first time next offseason.
Only two schools on this list have fewer active NFL players than Oklahoma, yet the Sooners rank second in 2024 earnings. That is largely a testament to the program’s ability to churn through future pros at the quarterback position. With Kyler Murray, Baker Mayfield and Jalen Hurts all on active rosters, those three comprise just under half of the Sooners’ total pay. Each is on a contract of at least $100 million in total value. Hurts earns $40 million this season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Murray pulls in just shy of $39 million as a member of the Arizona Cardinals, and Mayfield has a $30 million price tag after rekindling his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Alabama leads all programs by a mile in total active NFL players with 76. That is 13 more than second-place LSU. In turn, the Crimson Tide alumni have a gigantic combined 2024 payroll that no other school comes close to matching. Standouts at every position create a lengthy list of players to turn into pro stars under Nick Saban’s watch, and even in a post-Saban era, this program is well positioned to remain a talent factory. Julio Jones leads Alabama products in career earnings, but it is only a matter of time before his spot atop the leaderboard goes to someone else. Amari Cooper is the likeliest to contend for that status and earns $20 million this year.
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