NFL Exec Shades Tua, Lawrence, Love Contracts, 'We're Paying Guys Just to Pay Guys'

As more quarterbacks continue to get paid a lot of money with contract extensions, at least one NFL executive is questioning why teams are ponying up for players outside of the top-tier group at the position.

Speaking to The Athletic's Jeff Howe, the executive said "we're paying guys just to pay guys" in reference to players like Tua Tagovailoa, Trevor Lawrence and Jordan Love when they don't have highly-accomplished resumes.

The comment is part of a bigger story Howe wrote about the way teams go about building a roster at a time when quarterbacks are making more money than ever on extensions.

Howe, citing figures from Spotrac, calculated that Lawrence and Love are tied for second (19.7 percent) and Tagovailoa (19.0 percent) ranks sixth in terms of their average annual salary as a percentage of the 2025 salary cap.

Lawrence and Love are actually part of a four-way tie for second. Tagovailoa is tied with Brock Purdy and Jared Goff on the list. Lamar Jackson is 10th at 18.6 percent. Patrick Mahomes isn't in the top 10.

Some of this is a product of when quarterbacks have success and when they become eligible for an extension.

Love, for example, didn't become the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers until his fourth season. The team did buy itself time to evaluate his ability by signing him to a one-year extension worth up to $22.5 million in March 2023 rather than pick up the fifth-year option on his rookie deal.

After Love finished the 2023 season with 4,159 yards, 32 touchdowns, led them to a 6-2 record over the final eight weeks of the regular season and a playoff win over the Dallas Cowboys, it was enough to convince the Packers to give him a four-year, $220 million extension.

Tagovailoa at least had two seasons of high-level play prior to signing a four-year, $212.4 million extension with the Miami Dolphins in July 2024. He averaged 4,086 yards, 27 touchdowns and completed 67.4 percent of his attempts from 2022 to '23.

Lawrence has been up and down throughout his career since being selected with the No. 1 overall pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021. His rookie season was derailed by one of the worst coaching hires in NFL history.

The 2022 season was the closest we have come to seeing the player Lawrence was expected to be coming out of Clemson. He threw for 4,113 yards, 25 touchdowns and led the Jaguars to a division title and a historic comeback win over the Los Angeles Chargers in the playoffs.

One of the big reasons that it's so hard for teams to ride things out with a quarterback who may not be great but has shown they are capable of helping the team win is because it's better than the risk that comes if you don't have that player.

It's easy to say, for example, there are a lot of quarterbacks who could do what Tagovailoa has done for the Dolphins. There are plenty of examples, though, of what happens if you guess wrong.

Think about how many years teams like the New York Jets and Chicago Bears have been trying to find a long-term solution at quarterback. After Mitchell Trubisky's first-ever preseason game, Mike Ditka was comparing him to Tom Brady.

Another reason that players like Lawrence, Love and Tagovailoa get paid is because they got their teams to the playoffs, so those front offices know they can build a successful team around them.

History has shown that quarterback evaluation is nearly impossible. If it was easy, Mahomes wouldn't have been the second quarterback taken and No. 10 overall pick in the 2017 draft. Jackson was the second of two first-round picks by the Baltimore Ravens in 2018.

It's certainly harder to build around a quarterback after they have been given a big-money extension, but the general manager, scouting staff and coaches are also getting paid a lot of money to find answers.