NFL Player Salaries
Want to know how much money your favorite NFL footballer makes? Find out what determines NFL player salaries, the top NFL player salaries and the average NFL player salaries in this article.
Founded in 1920 with 11 teams, the
National Football League
(NFL) is currently the largest professional American Football League across the globe. Currently, 32 teams from across the United States participate in this annual 17-week competition. The league is divided into – National Football Conference (NFC) and American Football Conference (AFC), each of them comprising 16 teams divided into 4 divisions each. Each team is allowed to sign 53 players, of which they are allowed to keep 45 players ready every week. The National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) is formed by the NFL players to negotiate their salaries and contracts. All NFL players are members of it. This contract is known as the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).
Factors Determining NFL Player Salaries
An NFL player’s salary is termed as any compensation in money, investments, loans, property or any other asset which he may be presented with, apart from the other benefits like insurance and pension which he players may get. The following factors are considered while determining NPL player salaries:
Which Tier does the Player Belong to?
For the purpose of negotiating their contracts, the players are divided into either of the three tiers by the CBA:
- New players who have just been included in their respective teams and haven’t completed their first year yet.
- Players having completed playing for three full seasons in the league and their contracts have expired.
- Players having completed four or more seasons in the league and whose contracts have expired.
Players belonging to each of the three tires have different rights to negotiate their salary with the CBA.
Minimum Salary
The CBA makes sure that it sets a minimum NFL player salary. The minimum salary is determined every year by the CBA. The minimum NFL player salary for a new player was US $295,000 in 2008 which went up to US $310,000 in 2009. This minimum NFL player salary, set by the CBA, increases as you start gaining experience in the league by completing seasons. Thus a player with more years of experience in the league would have a higher minimum salary than compared to a player with lesser years of experience behind his name.
Salary Cap
Every team is allocated a maximum amount which can be spent on the salaries of all its players combined together. This is known as a salary cap and is determined by the CBA annually. The teams have to ensure that they do not exceed the set salary cap. For 2008, the salary cap was US $116 million per team, which increased in 2009 to US $127 million. The salary cap per team is a prime factor in determining NFL player salaries as the team managers have to ensure they get the best team possible in their pre-determined budget.
Signing Bonus
When any NFL team signs a new player, the new NFL player is paid a signing bonus by the team. This signing bonus is a huge amount, which teams usually offer to lure good players. Because of the salary cap, the signing bonus is divided and spread across a number of years, which is stated in the contract. Players make huge money from signing bonuses alone. Various other bonuses according to the contract, also add to an NFL player’s salary.
Average NFL Player Salaries
The average NFL player salary for the year 2009 was around US $770,000. The average base salary of an NFL player in 2009 was around US $990,000. The average NFL player signing bonus salary for all players in 2009 was approximately US $1.3 million.
Top NFL Player Salaries
Following is a list of the 6 top NFL player salaries for the year 2009:
NFL Player
NFL Team
Average Annual Salary
Julius Peppers
Carolina Panthers
US $16.683M
Carson Palmer
Cincinnati Bengals
US $16.166M
Eli Manning
New York Giants
US $15.285M
Nnamdi Asomugha
Oakland Raiders
US $15.155M
Ben Roethlisberger
Pittsburgh Steelers
US $14.664M
Peyton Manning
Indianapolis Colts
US $14M
If you look at the top NFL player salaries by teams, then New York Giants have spent the most on remuneration of its players in 2009. They are followed by Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears in order. Read more on American football.
The NFL player salary figures does make people think about how rich the league players are. But these figures are little in comparison to the salaries received by the NBA and the Major Baseball League players in USA, despite of football being a more highly combative and a tougher sport. Also the nature of salaries in NFL is such that in case of a breach of contract or retirement or even an injury, the team is not liable to pay the player. In any case, the players do tend to make a lot of hay when the sun shines.
