NFL Player Salaries

Founded in 1920 with just 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 NFL contracts. All NFL players are members of it. This contract is known as the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Top NFL Player Salaries

Let's have a look at the top 20 NFL player salaries.

No.	NFL Player	NFL Team	Position	Annual Salary
1.	Phil Rivers	San Diego Chargers	Quarterback	$25.5 million
2.	Donovan McNabb	Free Agent	Quarterback	$25.0 million
3.	Eli Manning	New York Giants	Quarterback	$20.5 million
4.	Chris Long	St. Louis Rams	Defensive End	$19.1 million
5.	Kelvin Hayden	Atlanta Falcons	Cornerback	$17.5 million
6.	Matt Schaub	Houston Texans	Quarterback	$17.0 million
7.	Julius Peppers	Chicago Bears	Defensive End	$16.7 million
8.	Greg Jennings	Green Bay Packers	Defensive End	$16.3 million
9.	Dwight Freeney	Indianapolis Colts	Defensive End	$16.2 million
10.	Carson Palmer	Oakland Raiders	Quarterback	$16.2 million
11.	Antonio Smith	Houston Texans	Defensive End	$15.5 million
12.	Jay Cutler	Chicago Bears	Quarterback	$15.1 million
13.	Jason Brown	St. Louis Rams	Center	$15.0 million
14.	Vernon Carey	Miami Dolphins	Guard	$15.0 million
15.	Peyton Manning	Indianapolis Colts	Quarterback	$14.0 million
16.	Chris Gamble	Carolina Panthers	Cornerback	$14.0 million
17.	Roy Williams	Chicago Bears	Wide Receiver	$13.7 million
18.	James Harrison	Pittsburgh Steelers	Linebacker	$13.4 million
19.	Maurice Jones-Drew	Jacksonville Jaguars	Running Back	$13.1 million
20.	Glenn Dorsey	Kansas City Chiefs	Defensive End	$13.1 million

(figures are purely NFL salaries and do not include any endorsements)

Regarding the top NFL salary by teams, the New York Giants have spent the most on remuneration of its players in 2009, 2010, and currently. They are followed by Miami Dolphins, Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears in order.

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 the players may get. The following factors are considered while determining NFL 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 as yet.
• Players having completed playing 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 around US $300,000 in 2008, which went up to around US $325,000 in 2009/10, and is currently around the $350,000 mark. This minimum NFL player salary set by the CBA, increases as you start gaining experience in the league and by completing seasons. Thus, a player with more years of experience in the league would have a higher minimum salary as 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. 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, while the 2010 season had no salary ceiling. 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. According to the contract, various other bonuses 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, and this amount was up to $1.9 million in 2010.

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 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.