NFL’s rookie wage scale explained: How much money do first year players make?

NFL Draft 2024 live online: First-round picks, teams, players and big board updates

The 2024 NFL Draft kicks off later today with the next generation of football stars set to take their first steps into the professional game. For the players selected it’s the achievement of a lifetime, the result of countless hours spent on the practice field and in the gym. It is also, of course, a major boost for their finances.

But for all the talk of multi-million dollar contracts and vast sign-on payments, the reality is a little different for most rookies. Ahead of the NFL Draft, we take a look at the league’s wage scale and minimum starting salary...

How much do rookies earn in NFL?

In the past teams had much more power when it came to negotiating rookie contracts, but a succession of Collective Bargaining Agreements has helped to secure greater fairness and more transparency for players. The CBA lays out a set amount for each draft position and, while the details of the breakdown will vary according to each team’s salary cap space, in broad terms it is a descending scale, from the first selection to the last. The No. 1 pick gets the most money, No. 259 gets the least.

At the top of the list, last year’s No. 1 overall draft pick Bryce Young bagged a contract worth $41.2 million. Not bad for a starting salary.

But the salary restrictions ensure that Young will not receive the entire amount as ‘salary’. Instead, Young bagged a capped salary of $6.9 million along with a signing bonus of somewhere in the region of $24 million. No. 2 pick C. J. Stroud

Most players, however, will be getting far less. The pay scale slides down to the final pick, often referred to as Mr. Irrelevant. Last year’s Mr Irrelevant, Desjuan Johnson, bagged a starting base salary of $750,000 with a prorated signing bonus of $19,446. Across his four-year deal he earns a base salary of $3,840,000 and will get a signing bonus of $77,784.

What is the NFL minimum salary?

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.

When you consider that roughly half of that will go to tax, agent fees, and union dues - and the fact that a significant portion of the total package is not guaranteed - the financial rewards on offer to NFL players seem less lucrative. If you are on the bottom end of the scale, you could be making around $300k per year, with a precarious, short-term career ahead of you.

Famously, the NFL has the shortest career of any professional sport, with the average time in the league only three years. So the majority of players will likely be retired by the age of 27 with a net income of less than one million dollars. Getting picked at the NFL Draft will make your dreams come true, but it may not make you rich.