The life of an NFL player might be great, especially the high salaries they enjoy, but not one player on the Baltimore Ravens cracked SI.com's list of the 50 top earning US athletes for 2011. Their eighth annual list includes three NFL QBs in the top ten, including Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning as the richest NFL athlete in terms of salary and endorsements, earning just over $38 million in 2011.
However, Manning, while the highest paid NFL player on the list, only came in fourth overall, far behind number one, Tiger Woods, who topped the list for the eighth consecutive year with earnings of over $62 million dollars, including $60 million of that in endorsements.
New England Patriots QB Tom Brady was 9th with earnings of just over $30 million but it is the 8th place guy who surprised us, with salaries, bonuses and endorsements totalling $32 million. His name? Matt Ryan, QB for the Atlanta Falcons.
The closest any Ravens player came was in 2010, when OLB Terrell Suggs signed his six-year contract and came in at 19th on that list with just under $25 million.