Travis Kelce has been one of the most popular players in the NFL over the past few years, and his popularity only got bigger after he started dating Taylor Swift. Being a popular player can definitely pay off, and Kelce found that out during the 2024 season when he earned $3.25 million in licensing royalties from the NFLPA.
Although Kelce got a big check, he wasn’t the NFLPA’s highest earner in 2024. According to Sportico, that honor belonged to Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy, who pulled in an eye-popping $4 million in royalties. McCarthy was the ONLY player on the NFLPA’s royalty list who cracked the $4 million mark for the 2024 season.
It’s been a big month for McCarthy, who recently announced that he’s expecting a child with his fiancée, Katya Kuropas.
The baby is due in September, which means he’ll be arriving just in time for football season.
As for the royalty numbers, those come from the NFLPA’s annual report (via Sportico), which is filed with the U.S. Department of Labor. The report only takes into account the sales of things that the NFLPA licenses, such as jerseys, video games and trading cards. Although Kelce likely made millions from the dozens of commercials he appeared in during the 2024 season, most of those aren’t included in the NFLPA total since those companies don’t sell NFLPA licensed merchandise. (If Kelce is in a commercial, that money is paid directly to him.)
The 12-month earnings period ended on Feb. 28, 2025, which means a solid chunk of their royalties were made during the 2024 season. Of course, McCarthy didn’t play a single snap during the 2024 season, so you might be wondering how he was able to pull in $4 million worth of royalties. For one, his jersey was likely a hot-seller. With a player like Patrick Mahomes, most fans who want his jersey already have one, but that’s not the case with rookies. Fans weren’t able to go out and buy McCarthy’s jersey until after the Vikings made him the 10th overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. McCarthy was also coming off a college national title at Michigan, so it’s not hard to see why his jersey might have been popular.
McCarthy was expected to compete for the Vikings’ starting quarterback job last season but tore his meniscus in August, which knocked him out for the entire year. Despite not playing a single down during the regular season, McCarthy still took home $4 million in royalties on top of his $12.71 million signing bonus on top of his $795,000 base salary, which means the rookie signal-caller pulled in a total of $17.5 million last season from those three things alone.
Surprisingly, McCarthy was one of two players who cracked the list for highest royalty earners without playing a single down last season. Peyton Manning, who retired in 2015, ranked fourth on the list with $2.2 million in earnings.
Here’s a look at the top five (via Sportico)
1. McCarthy: $4 million
2. Kelce: $3.25 million
3. Justin Herbert: $2.55 million
4. Manning: $2.2 million
5. Josh Allen: $2.1 million
Mahomes ranked sixth on the list with $1.9 million. McCarthy’s total is the most royalty money any player has pulled in during a single season since Tom Brady made $6.8 million in 2022.
