For the seventh consecutive year, Sports Illustrated has come out with their "Fortunate 50", the 50 highest paid American athletes. For 2009, the Chiefs had one player on the list: Tyson Jackson.
More info and the numbers after the jump.
The third overall pick reportedly received a contract worth $57 million over five years including $31 million guaranteed. According to the numbers compiled by SI, Jackson received a whopping $18.125 million in 2009 from salary.
The defensive end had no sacks and ranked 10th in tackles among Chiefs starters during his rookie campaign -- yet last year's No. 3 pick takes home $17 million in the second year of his deal.
He also received $75,000 in endorsements. Also one the list is Matt Stafford (2009 No. 1 overall pick) and Jason Smith (2009 No. 2 overall pick).
Number one on the list? Tiger Woods with a ridiculous $90+ million. The next athlete on the list is Phil Mickelson with $61+ million.
Here's how SI arrived at their rankings:
Our findings consisted solely of salary, winnings, bonuses, endorsements and appearance fees. We consulted players' associations, tour records, agents and news reports. Our endorsement estimates for 2010 came from Burns Entertainment & Sports Marketing, other sports-marketing executives and analysts, and agents. Salary figures were based on current or most recently completed seasons (the upcoming 2010 season for the NFL). For winnings-based sports (auto racing, golf, tennis), we used the '09 calendar year. Boxing purses are from July '09 to June 2010. Candidates for the U.S. 50 had to be American citizens and currently active in their sports.