Shedeur Sanders Nflpa Royalty Payment Reaches Record $17.7 Million
Shedeur Sanders nflpa royalty payment surged to a record $17.7 million in group licensing income over the season. For the Cleveland Browns quarterback, that figure dwarfs the $1.005 million slotted average annual salary attached to his 144th selection in the fifth round of the 2025 Draft.
Sanders and SS2Legendary
The NFL Players Association annual report filed this week with the Department of Labor listed Sanders under his limited liability corporation, SS2Legendary. The previous record was Tom Brady’s $9.5 million from the 2021-2022 season, making Sanders’s total a sharp jump at the top of the league’s group licensing board.
Group licensing covers deals involving six or more players, and the most common products are jerseys, trading cards, video games, and other collectibles. The same figures also include player marketing income from appearances and hospitality promotions, but they do not include individual deals like Sanders’s agreements with Gatorade, Delta Airlines, Beats by Dre, and Ralph Lauren.
NFLPA revenue climbed
The report lands against a bigger rise in the business behind those deals. NFLPA group licensing revenue from OneTeam, Fanatics, Panini, and Electronic Arts combined in the 12 months ended February 28 reached $297 million, up from $202.6 million in the year-before period. Panini alone delivered $93 million last year, compared with $39.6 million in the year before.
Sanders was not the only name near the top. J.J. McCarthy led all players with $4 million in the 2024-2025 NFL season through his LLC, Newberry Raised, while the No. 2 earner made $12.8 million through TIPENTERPRISE LLC and Patrick Mahomes earned over $8 million through his LLC, 2PM. Mahomes led all players in the 2023-2024 season with $3.6 million, and Travis Kelce was fourth at $2.4 million.
For Sanders, the gap between his draft slot and his licensing haul is the story. The fifth-round pick’s off-field earning power now sits far above the prior record, and the report shows how much money the league’s licensed products can generate when a player’s name travels across jerseys, cards, games, and collectibles.
