Brent Key stokes Georgia Tech NFL buzz: A look at program’s highest earners

Georgia Tech football is back to creating a buzz in the NFL, with Keylan Rutledge becoming the first Jackets player selected in the first round of the NFL draft since 2010.

Georgia Tech has featured NFL star power before, with at least two players scoring record-breaking contracts over the past four decades.

The Jackets had two players selected in the draft last week, only the second time they’ve had more than one in the past nine years.

Georgia Tech had two first-round picks in the 2010 draft, with Derrick Morgan selected 16th overall and Demaryius Thomas picked 22nd.

Morgan and Thomas, not surprisingly, rank among the top earners among Georgia Tech players who have taken snaps in the NFL.

Pro Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson is the Jackets’ top NFL earner of all time, pulling in $103.7 million in earnings from 2007-15 after Detroit made him the second-overall pick of the 2007 draft.

The former Sandy Creek High School star signed what was the richest NFL contract in history in March 2012, landing an eight-year, $132 million contract extension that included $60 million in guaranteed money.

Johnson was in his prime — with years left on his contract — when he retired in March 2015 on the heels of his sixth consecutive Pro Bowl selection, citing a desire to carry good health into his future.

Former Georgia Tech linebacker Pat Swilling, like Johnson, once made NFL contract history when he became the highest-paid player in the league in 1992.

Swilling, the 1991 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, signed a three-year deal worth $5.6 million in March 1992 that made him the highest-paid defensive player in the league at that time.

Inflation being what it is, Swilling’s record-breaking contract is on par — in annual salary — with what a third-round rookie would sign for in today’s game.

Coach Brent Key made it clear the plan is there for the Jackets to produce more NFL-ready players.

“You can’t have NFL players without NFL size bodies, bottom line,” Key said this month. “That first cut line for that league is so much measurables. It’s the height, the length, the speed, and how they play on the field. That’s something we strive for.

“We’ve got to increase the size of certain positions across the board.”

Georgia Tech players showed well at the NFL combine, led by Rutledge running a 4.54-second 20-yard shuttle, the fastest among the offensive linemen at the combine.

Haynes King, who signed a free-agent deal with Carolina, ran a 4.46-second time in the 40 and threw well in drill work. King’s 40 was the fifth-fastest time ever run by a quarterback at the combine.

Eric Rivers, who signed a free-agent deal with Tampa Bay, ran a 4.35-second time in the 40 at the combine, tied for sixth-fastest among receivers.

NFL greatness can be had even if players aren’t selected high in the draft, as many of Georgia Tech’s all-time leading NFL earners have proved over the years.

Here’s a look at the highest NFL earners in each position group who played for the Yellow Jackets over the years:

(Source: Spotrac, unless otherwise noted)

QB Joe Hamilton

• At Tech: 1996-99
• Seventh-round pick, Tampa Bay, 2000
• Career earnings: $854,000

RB Jordan Mason

• At Tech: 2017-21
• Undrafted free agent, Minnesota, 2022
• Career earnings: $8,060,000

RB Jahmyr Gibbs

• At Tech: 2020-21*
• First-round pick, Detroit, 2023
• Career earnings: $14,668,006

* Transferred to Alabama for 2022

TE Darren Waller

• At Tech: 2011-14
• Sixth-round pick, Baltimore, 2015
• Career earnings: $46,985,046

WR Calvin Johnson

• At Tech: 2004-06
• First-round pick, Detroit, 2007
• Career earnings: $103,661,924

WR Demaryius Thomas

• At Tech: 2007-09
• First-round pick, Denver, 2010
• Career earnings: $74,736,914

OL Shaq Mason

• At Tech: 2011-14
• Fourth-round pick, New England, 2015
• Career earnings: $66,972,217

DT Adam Gotsis

• At Tech: 2012-15
• Second-round pick, Denver, 2016
• Career earnings: $17,567,204

OLB Derrick Morgan

• At Tech: 2007-09
• First-round pick, Tennessee, 2010
• Career earnings: $44,467,096

LB Keith Brooking

• At Tech: 1994-97
• First-round pick, Atlanta, 1998
• Career earnings: $57,475,000