Average NFL Salary

Being a NFL player sure comes with its perks and incentives. A NFL player who is talented and gives his 100% on the field is loved by the spectators and supporters of the team he plays for. Yes ladies and gentlemen NFL is about glamor, fame and glory too and not just sweat and blood of the players. Oh and how can you forget the handsome amount some of these players draw as salary? If you want to know how much these players take home, read on!

Average Salary of NFL Players

Although there are some players, as mentioned who draw a good sum and end up being rich and famous, there are some who do not get a good amount. All the same, let's take a look what these players get for toiling on the line of scrimmage.

Base Salary
As per the NFL Players Association, the minimum basic salary for the players is $295,000. This amount is received without any exception by a player on the active roster for a minimum of 3 games. The average basic salary for a NFL player is between $990,000 to $1.1 million annually.

Signing Bonus
The signing bonus is the factor through which the players try to rake in as much moolah (money) as they can. The signing bonus is a very significant head in the average salary. For the NFL players, the signing bonus on an average is $1.34 million.

In addition to this, the salary includes other bonuses amounting to Rs.$440,000. This is counted as a part of the player's salary, as far as the 2008 season was concerned.

Average Salary of NFL Teams

Now that the NFL player salaries have been mentioned, here is a look at NFL salaries by team. As per media sources, the highest median salary received by NFL team Tampa Bay Buccaneers is $1,424,054. This was the figure given by USA Today salary database as per the 2008 season statistics. The other end of the spectrum is Green Bay Packers with a lowest median salary of $642,000.

Average Salary of an NFL Coach

Just as the players are important, the coach is, too. The salary for the head coach is determined by adding all salaries together and then dividing the amount by the number of coaches. The NFL salary is approximately $3, 226, 563 per year for a NFL coach. This is the technical figure, as in reality it seems that the coaches earn in the range of 2 million to 4 million.

The average salary by year is determined by the league and the NFL players' association. That is what they call as the NFL salary cap. This cap or a kind of regulation on the salary limits the total amount the teams can give away to all their players in a year. The salary cap in the year 2009 was $127 million. The cap is there for a simple reason - to prevent one team from gaining an unfair edge over the others by spending a huge amount on the prized players. To tell you more, the NFL salaries were without the cap as a result of the team owners deciding to opt out of the collective bargaining agreement.

One thing I realized while I was reading about these salaries and some disparities in the amount which some players and coaches earn in comparison to others, is that, all that glitters is not gold!