San Francisco 49ers star Arik Armstead recently shared his game check, which has left a lot of NFL fans baffled. Most fans think that the NFL stars don’t have to be much concerned about money due to the ludicrous contracts the players sign. However, Armstead’s game check has revealed that while the players do bring home a lot of money, they also have to pay an exorbitant sum as taxes.
Sports reporter Darren Rovell recently took to his X (formerly known as Twitter) account to share an image of Arik Armstead‘s game check. The 49ers defensive tackle earns a whopping $393,055 per game in a season. However, what stunned the fans even more was that Arik had to pay $194,085 in taxes. This indicates that Arik earns just a bit more than half of his per-game salary due to taxes.
49ers defensive end Arik Armstead shares a game check.
He makes $393,055 a game.
49.3% comes out in taxes. pic.twitter.com/y3X7MBTpEU
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 3, 2023
Darren Rovell’s post has gone viral on social media platforms and has garnered over 20 million views. Several fans have reacted to Rovell’s post and have sympathized with the NFL stars. One fan even wrote, “Regardless of how much he makes, this is still robbery“. However, others felt that it was only right for the NFL stars to pay huge taxes after earning such salaries.
Moreover, other fans even questioned that if Arik Armstead had to pay so much in taxes, what would be the plight of the NFL stars who earn much more than the 49ers star? To put things into context, the player with the biggest annual average salary is the Cincinnati Bengals’ Joe Burrow, with $55 million. On the other hand, Arik Armstead’s average annual salary in comparison to Burrow is just $17 million.
Arik Armstead’s San Francisco 49ers contract
Back in March 2020, Arik Armstead signed a contract extension with the San Francisco 49ers. The contract extension, valid for five years, was worth $85 million. Armstead’s average annual salary after the new contract is $17 million. In the first year of his contract, his base salary was $2.5 million, which increased to $6.5 million. For the third and fourth years of his contract, Arik’s base salary was $1,120,000 and $1,165,000, respectively.
It’s official!
Arik Armstead has signed a 5-year contract extension with the #49ers pic.twitter.com/oTWJJJhXhz
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) March 16, 2020
In the fifth and final year of the contract, Arik Armstead’s base salary will increase to $17.4 million. The 29-year-old defensive tackle also received a signing bonus of $3.5 million. Last but not least, Arik Armstead is also set to receive $40 million in guaranteed money at the end of his contract (via Spotrac).