If he's anything close to The Big Hurt he needs to stop playing football yesterday. Can you imagine the kind of $ Frank Thomas would be making today?
If you could be an HOFer in both, baseball is definitely the choice for money and health after retirement.
MLB's four largest contracts ever are all current ones:
1. Mike Trout, Angels: 10 years, $360 million (2021-30)
2. Bryce Harper, Phillies: 13 years, $330 million (2019-31)
3. Giancarlo Stanton, Marlins: 13 years, $325 million (2015-27)
4. Manny Machado, Padres: 10 years, $300 million (2019-28)
The fifth largest was Alex Rodriguez, who had a 10 year, $275 million contract for 2008-17. His total career earnings were just a few thousand short of $400M. Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera both made over $330M in their careers.
No NFL player has earned near $300M. The top ten earners of all-time:
1. Eli Manning: $252.3 million
2. Peyton Manning: $248.7 million
3. Drew Brees: $244.7 million
4. Tom Brady: $235.2 million
5. Aaron Rodgers: $233.6 million
6. Ben Roethlisberger: $232.3 million
7. Matt Ryan: $223.5 million
8. Philip Rivers: $218.9 million
9. Matthew Stafford: $211.0 million
10. Larry Fitzgerald: $175.0 million
Fitzgerald is the only non-QB on the list. Now, top-flight DTs do make good money. Here are the top ten highest paid DTs (current average annual salary):
1. Aaron Donald ($22,500,000)
2. DeForest Buckner ($21,000,000)
3. Fletcher Cox ($17,100,000)
4. Grady Jarrett ($17,000,000)
5. Geno Atkins ($16,300,000)
6. Chris Jones ($16,126,000)
7. D.J. Reader ($13,250,000)
8. Javon Hargrave ($13,000,000)
9. Sheldon Richardson ($12,333,333)
10. Akiem Hicks ($12,000,000)
Now, these DTs are in their prime right now...you can bet that Aaron Donald won't be making that $22.5M a year after his current contract ends in 2025 (at age 34). His career earnings at that time will be $142M.