How Russell Wilson Achieved a Net Worth of $115 Million

The Seattle Seahawks were booted out of the playoffs by the Green Bay Packers on Sunday by a final score of 28-23. It was the second straight year they were one-and-done in the NFL playoffs and a far cry from 2013 season when they dominated their way to a Super Bowl title. There are many reasons why the Seahawks didn’t have what it takes to win their second championship in six years, but Russell Wilson is not one of them. First, the it’s been well-documented that the team’s defense isn’t the same as it was a few years ago. In fact, the defense was in the bottom half of the league in just about every statistical category – a far cry from the Legion of Boom days. Secondly, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they battled a ton of injuries including season-ending blows to starting RB Chris Carson and back-up RBs Rashaad Penny and C.J. Prosise. Wilson did all he could to try and carry the team, but the odds were against them mainly because of these two reasons. Team aside, Russell Wilson continues to be an elite quarterback year-in, year-out. Statistically, he’s always at the top of the league and the reason why the Seahawks have had such a tremendous run since his rookie year in 2012. All of his success has helped make him the top-paid quarterback in the league and currently boasting a net worth of $115 million.

Highest-Paid NFL Quarterback

Of the 117 quarterbacks in the National Football League, Russell Wilson’s 4-year, $140 million contract is the most lucrative. His average salary of $35 million per year puts him slightly above Ben Roethlisberger, Carson Wentz, Jared Goff and Aaron Rodgers. Included in that contract is a $65 million signing bonus and $107 million of guaranteed money. It’s a monster contract that is back loaded and will see him pushing close to $40 million per year in the final two seasons (2022 and 2023). The reason the number inflates in the final two years is because there is a $5 million roster bonus that kicks in on the 5th day of the season. We’ve carefully looked at the financial promise that young quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson and Patrick Mahomes have as they play out their rookie deals. The truth is Wilson is writing the road map to get paid having already been to two Super Bowls, winning one and making 7 Pro Bowls. At 31-year old Wilson may not see another contract this size, but you can be sure it is a huge piece of his net worth and that doesn’t show any signs of slowing down.

Endorsements

Another reason the Seattle Seahawks quarterback is the 18th highest paid athlete in the world is his comprehensive endorsement portfolio. His partners include Nike, Microsoft, Luvo, Bose, Alaska Airlines, Wilson Sporting Goods, Facebook live and more. His annual endorsement money is worth in the neighborhood of $10 million per year. This is surely driven by his long-term deal with Nike, which he signed in 2016. The details of this contract were never disclosed, but at the time it was rumored to be one of the largest deals in the league.

Outside Business Activity

Aside from Russell Wilson’s contract and endorsements he is one of the most active investors/businessmen in the NFL. In 2016, Wilson launched (with partners) his clothing and footwear brand called Good Man Brand. His line is sold in Nordstrom and the company donates $3 for every purchase to the Why Not You Foundation, which focuses on empowering children.

Among some of his other outside business activity:

In 2014, he became part owner and endorser of Eat the Ball, a European bread company. In 2016, Wilson partnered with Juice Press to launch their first Seattle franchise. That same year he partnered with Chris Hansen, Wally Walker and Erik and Pete Nordstrom to form an investment group to bring a sports arena to the SoDo neighborhood of Seattle for potentially an NBA or NHL franchise. In 2017, Wilson launched a fan network platform to connect fans with celebrities called TraceMe. It launched it’s first beta that year and received $9 million in Series A funding from e-commerce monsters Jeff Bezos, Joe Tsai and Chad Hurley. TraceMe was acquired by Nike in 2019. Lastly, the same year TraceMe launched Wilson announced he was part of a $7 million investment group for VICIS, a football helmet manufacturer.

As you can see, he’s a busy man off the field and you can be sure that all of this business activity is helping drive his net worth over nine figures. When you see an athlete become part of so much more than just football one can understand why long after their playing days they are still increasing their net worth. On the flip side, there are so many athletes that earn millions throughout their career and end up broke after their playing days. Russell Wilson surely won’t be one of those guys, but even if he did end his career and lose his entire business portfolio he won’t be in too much trouble. Wilson is married to R&B star Ciara and she boasts a nice net worth of $20 million herself! They are surely one of sports’ power couples!