Taysom Hill is a backup quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. He is going to make $140 million over the next four years, according to Sports Illustrated. That is more than the entire WNBA combined, which is $10 million. That shouldn’t be the case.

Professional athletes can make up to hundreds of millions of dollars for playing a game.  Most NFL players started playing when they were kids. They worked for hours each day from childhood to college. I get that they have dedicated years of their lives to this sport, but at the end of the day, it’s a game that these people simply enjoy playing. Getting to play football in front of millions of people is what most athletes dream of. Salary should be based on the value of their work and what they contribute to society. The average length of a NFL player’s career is three and a half years, and the average salary of a player is $2 million, according to Statista.

It would take 40 years for a person making $50,000 a year to make $2 million. It takes three and a half years and working for eight months at a time to make that as an NFL player. 

While I believe that NFL players should get paid because they provide entertainment for millions of people around the country, they don’t need or deserve millions. The highest position of power in the U.S., the president, who is in charge of 300 million Americans, is getting paid less than the minimum contract of an NFL player. According to Govinfo, the president is making $400,000 a year while the minimum NFL contract is $660,000, according to En.As.

As a sports-lover myself, I enjoy playing lacrosse, and I would love to play lacrosse as my career. I wouldn’t want to get paid more than a firefighter who runs into burning buildings for a living and risks lung cancer, or a doctor who saves lives for a living. I would want to be able to afford a house, a car and to be able to pay my bills.

Patrick Mahomes II signed the biggest contract in NFL history with a whopping $450 million contract over 10 years. That is enough to fly around the world 204,500 times. Most people are lucky to get on an airplane once every two years. 

One may make the argument that NFL players get beat up for a living. They choose to play football, and then play once a week for four months. They make more money in a couple years than most get paid in their entire lifetime. Playing a game that you love is a dream, but players who love the game don’t need to make more than people working a nine to five for their whole life.