From Wild Card to Super Bowl: the massive bonus money NFL players earn for every win
NFL playoff bonuses rise round by round, meaning every win from Wild Card weekend to the Super Bowl comes with a bigger paycheck.
The high-earning stars of the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks will have another opportunity to top up their bank balances when they face off at Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara on Sunday, February 8.
The NFL’s top earners
It would be quite the understatement to suggest NFL contracts mean players across the league are not short of a dollar or two. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes remains the league’s highest-paid player in terms of total earnings, with his salary, bonuses and endorsements making him an estimated $80 million in the 2025 season.
Mahomes’ average annual salary of $45 million, however, is only the 15th highest in the NFL, with the Dallas Cowboys’ Dak Prescott leading that particular metric with an average annual value of $60 million.
At the other end of the spectrum, the minimum base salary for an NFL rookie on the active roster in the 2025 season was $840,000.
How playoff bonuses actually work
Despite the huge difference between the league’s top stars and its up-and-coming youngsters, each member of a 53-man roster receives the exact same amount of money depending on how far their franchise goes in the playoffs.
These payments function as performance-based bonuses or prize money and are paid directly by the NFL, not by the team the player is contracted to. The deeper a team advances, the more every eligible player earns, regardless of position, experience or salary.
The most any player can make from the postseason is $376,000. To reach that figure, a player would need to win the Super Bowl with a team that competed in the Wild Card round as a division winner.
NFL postseason payouts
Players get paid as follows for competing in different rounds of the postseason:
| Postseason round | Payout |
|---|---|
| Wild card round | $53,500 |
| Wild card round - Bye | $53,500 |
| Wild card round - Division winner | $58,500 |
| Divisional round | $58,500 |
| Conference championship game | $81,000 |
| Super Bowl runner-up | $103,000 |
| Super Bowl winner | $178,000 |
How much can Patriots and Seahawks players earn this postseason?
This year, the Patriots roster can collect the maximum amount on offer after winning the AFC East and entering the playoffs without a bye.
Despite finishing the regular season as the NFC’s No. 1 seed, Seahawks players can “only” pick up $371,000. Seattle benefited from a Wild Card bye, which slightly reduces the total postseason payout available.
As for the Super Bowl itself, the difference between winning and losing is $75,000 per player. That may be pocket change for the league’s biggest earners, but it represents a very healthy bonus for rookies and minimum-salary players.
Do practice squad players get paid in the playoffs?
Practice squad players are not eligible for postseason payouts. However, they do continue to earn their usual weekly salary until their team is eliminated from the playoffs.
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