Shedeur Sanders is not the face of the NFL, but he’s earning like one.
It was recently reported that the Cleveland Browns quarterback broke Tom Brady’s record in terms of NFLPA royalty payments, cashing in $17.7 million in group licensing income during the 2025 NFL season. That was nearly double of Brady’s previous record of $9.5 million.
Apparently, jersey sales wasn’t even a big reason behind Sanders’ big NFLPA money, according to his dad, former NFL superstar and current Colorado Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders.
“I don’t know if people really dug into that,” Deion said during a recent interview with Front Office Sports when addressing whether jersey sales were a major reason behind his son’s NFLPA payment.
Instead, Deion said that “a tremendous deal” was what mainly caused the Shedeur’s profitable NFLPA venture.
Shedeur’s 2025 NFLPA earnings easily dwarf his salary with the Browns. In fact, it is multi-fold higher. The former Colorado star signal-caller was selected by Cleveland in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft and signed a 4-year, $4.64 million contract with the team.
One can only imagine how much more he could have earned from that NFLPA partnership had he played better under center in his rookie season. In 2025, he passed for 1,400 yards and 7 touchdowns with 10 interceptions on a 56.6% completion rate across eight games (seven starts).
