The Average Professional Football Salary
Football players in the National Football League typically make hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, each year. Aside from their regular salaries, football players also make money from signing bonuses, product endorsements, TV and radio commercials and public appearances. Teams acquire players as rookies (first-year players) from the annual NFL draft, when college players decide to go pro and make themselves available for the NFL in hopes of landing a contract with a team, or through trades, when players from one team are traded to another team in exchange for other players, draft picks or money.
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Average Player Salary
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Average player salaries vary by teams. In 2009, the Atlanta Falcons had the highest average player salary at $1.325 million, while the St. Louis Rams had the lowest average player salary at $488,640. Most players in the league earned a salary somewhere in the middle of that range, around $770,000 that year.
Coaches
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Coaches are an integral part of any football team, and are paid salaries higher than most players. Coaches in the NFL earn $2.5 million a year on average. Some coaches earn up to $8 million a year. All coaches earn at least $1 million each year.
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Highest-Paid Players
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Superstars in the NFL make the most money. Most players have a guaranteed salary plus provisions in their contracts that earn them more money if they achieve certain performance levels each year. In 2010, Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is set to earn the most money in the league at $15.8 million. Peyton's brother Eli is another of the league's highest-paid players. Between June 2009 and June 2010, he earned almost $40 million between his salary, bonuses and endorsements. Tom Brady, Julius Peppers, Terrell Suggs, Philip Rivers, Albert Haynesworth and DeMarcus Ware all earned more than $25 million during that time from salaries, bonuses and endorsements.
Lowest-Paid Players
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The lowest-paid players in the NFL still earn a great salary compared with the average U.S. salary. The league minimum for rookie players, typically the lowest-paid on the team, was $310,000 in 2009. About 65 players (all rookies) in the league earned that minimum salary in 2009.
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References
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