The NFL works on a system of pay caps for each team which affects how general managers pick and choose who stays on the roster and who gets cut. Players’ contracts have different clauses that GMs can use to entice players to their teams, or use to cut a player to get under the salary cap. These can affect the players’ pay during the year.
The NFL and NFL Players Association have agreed to set a minimum salary cap number for 2023 at $224.8 million for each of the 32 teams. This is $16.6 million more than last year’s cap of $208.2 million.
NFL players don’t get paid as if they work a nine-to-five job, which they clearly don’t. They earn a weekly salary but only during the season with conditions set on whether they play and how they perform. Like other workers they get bonuses that are paid outside the regular schedule of payments. In order to understand how NFL players get paid, a look at different parts of their contracts is needed.
READ ALSO:
Base Salary
Every NFL player who is on a team’s roster during the year will earn a base salary divided up into 18 installments. That covers the 17-game schedule and the bye week which make up the season. If a player gets cut during the season, the bulk of the money they expected to earn gets lost unless they have a guarantee.
Guarantees
Base salary can be non-guaranteed or guaranteed depending on various clauses and conditions. There are three types of guaranteed money that teams can use when drawing up a contract: injury, skill and cap.
Injury guarantee
This is the best-known form of guaranteed money, which is activated when a player is cut from the team but is unable to play ball or pass a physical. The player is entitled to the money in his contract that is protected against injury.
These two guarantees usually go hand in hand. A skill guarantee protects a player from being cut in the event the team feels the player’s skills don’t meet the team’s needs. A cap guarantee protects the player from being released so that the team can get cap space to sign a free agent, or re-sign another player.
Full guarantee
Combining all three: injury, skill and cap guarantees, forms a full guarantee. Full guarantees are used in almost every NFL contract and the player is entitled the money from full guarantees when they sign the contract.
Signing bonus
Players receive a signing bonus upon signing their contract with a team and it is fully guaranteed. The player usually receives payment in the first year after signing with a team. The team can pay the player the whole amount at once or spread the payments out over the length of the contract to reserve cap space. This is known as a “pro-rated bonus” and a team can spread the payment out over a maximum of five years. However if the team cuts the player it must pay the full amount outstanding, reducing their cap space.
This bonus is paid out to a player for being on the roster at a certain date or being on the active roster during the year.
The most common form is to specify that the player will be on the roster on a certain date. This protects the player from being released before that specific date, unless the team is willing to pay out.
The other form is paid out to the player if they are on the active roster as opposed to the 53-man roster, also known as a “per-game roster”. The player is paid 1/16th of the bonus for each week they are on the active roster.
This is money agreed upon for attending a stipulated percentage of offseason workouts paid at a flat rate. Players with four or more cumulative seasons get five guaranteed absences without being penalized.
Options bonus
This is like a signing bonus but is activated at a later date; it is guaranteed money later in a player’s contract. This bonus can be pro-rated over the length of the contract for up to five years.
Details on Justin Tucker's four-year extension, per source:
Signing bonus/Option Bonus $11.5M Guaranteed: $ 17.5M New $ 24 million $6M Average per year -- which still makes him the NFL's highest paid kicker
Teams also pay players incentives to hit certain goals set in the contract like passing or receiving yards. These incentives come in two forms: Likely To Be Earned (LTBE) and Not Likely To Be Earned (NLTBE). These incentives are based on what the player did in the previous season.
For example, if a player received the incentive for say rushing 1,000 yards and he has the same threshold in the upcoming season it is considered LTBE. This would count toward the team’s cap in the season it was set. Whereas NLTBE incentives count against the next season’s cap.
NFL players don't get paid as if they work a nine-to-five job, which they clearly don't. They earn a weekly salary but only during the season with conditions set on whether they play and how they perform. Like other workers they get bonuses that are paid outside the regular schedule of payments.
The average salary for a Premier League player moved to over £3 million per year according to the Global Sports Salary Survey in late 2019. The average weekly pay for a first-team Premier League squad player is up over £60,000 per week, an increase of over £10,000 in just a couple of seasons.
How do NFL players receive their salaries and how often are they paid by their team(s)? A Player's annual salary is paid during the regular season in 18 weekly installments. This doesn't include signing or performance bonuses. Players are also paid by the League for playoff games which is separate from their contracts.
Merchandising and Licensing Deals. Although the majority of its national revenue comes from those monster TV deals, the NFL also makes money through its NFL Properties LLC and NFL International LLC divisions, which handle licensing for both the league and its individual teams.
The CBA sets out minimum salaries for players in the NFL, which vary based on their time in the league. For 2024 a rookie will get a minimum of $795,000, a considerable increase on the $750,000 minimum in 2023.
They earn a weekly salary but only during the season with conditions set on whether they play and how they perform. Like other workers they get bonuses that are paid outside the regular schedule of payments. In order to understand how NFL players get paid, a look at different parts of their contracts is needed.
A Player's annual salary is paid during the regular season in 18 weekly installments. This doesn't include signing or performance bonuses. Players are also paid by the League for playoff games which is separate from their contracts.
Professional athletes generally take home about 50% to 60% of their reported salaries after taxes and agent fees. For players on minimum contracts in the NFL, NBA, and MLB, take-home pay ranges from about $362,000 to $680,000 per season. The highest-paid players take home about $20 million to $30 million per season.
ESPN's social media team did the math, and determined that Mahomes will make $1.60 per second, $96 per minute, $5,472 per hour and $137,808 per day from now until the end of his contract.
What Are Mahomes' Salary, Earnings, and Cap Numbers in 2023? The 2023 numbers for Mahomes take some unpacking with a base salary of $1,325,556. Spread across the 17 games, that is an average of $77,974 per game. While that may seem low in NFL QB terms, Mahomes' earnings for the entirety of 2023 are much higher.
This is the best-known form of guaranteed money, which is activated when a player is cut from the team because they are unable to play ball or pass a physical. The player is entitled to the money in his contract that is protected against injury.
NFL players are generally paid weekly during the regular season with their annual salaries spread across 18 weeks. When the playoffs begin, these checks stop. Players participating in playoff games are compensated, but playoff checks are often drastically lower than regular season game checks.
In the NFL, players receive a regular season salary, and their contracts typically include base salaries that are paid regardless of the outcome of individual games. Therefore, players receive their predetermined salary regardless of whether the team wins or loses a particular game.
Former Washington Football Team's Tyrone Swoopes earned the title of lowest-paid football player in the league in 2021, having worked as an undrafted free agent below the minimum NFL salary cap.
Purdy signed a four-year, $3.7 million contract with the 49ers after being selected with the last overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft. His annual base salary of $934,252 ranks 54th among all NFL quarterbacks, per Over The Cap.
NFL players are generally paid weekly during the regular season with their annual salaries spread across 18 weeks. When the playoffs begin, these checks stop. Players participating in playoff games are compensated, but playoff checks are often drastically lower than regular season game checks.
How much is the average NFL player paid? The average NFL salary is around $2.8 million. The NFL Players Association negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in 2017, and since then, that number has been set to increase over time.
As of September 2021, the average salary for a player in the Premier League was reported to be around £3 million per year. However, salaries in the Championship, which is the second tier of English football, are generally lower, with averages ranging from £500,000 to £1 million per year.
Address: Apt. 203 613 Huels Gateway, Ralphtown, LA 40204
Phone: +2135150832870
Job: Regional Design Producer
Hobby: Nordic skating, Lacemaking, Mountain biking, Rowing, Gardening, Water sports, role-playing games
Introduction: My name is Fredrick Kertzmann, I am a gleaming, encouraging, inexpensive, thankful, tender, quaint, precious person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.