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NFL Draft Pick Salaries: How Much Do Rookies Make on First Contract?

Getty 2019 NFL Draft Logo

The rookie wage scale was previously put in place to avoid the top picks in the NFL draft from essentially making more money than some multi-year starters were. Obviously, there are still kinks that need to be worked out, but at the very least, a set salary is now in place for how much players who are selected in the draft are paid.

This all stems from the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement which set up a value for every pick in the draft from No. 1 to the final overall selection. This includes the total value of each player’s contract, their signing bonus and also the cap hit which the team absorbs. Beyond that, all deals are over four years, but first-round picks have a fifth-year option available to teams.

We’re going to take a look at the latest scale for each round of the draft. It’s worth noting that the rookie wage scale could change in the upcoming seasons, but nothing has been set in stone on that. For round one, it will be broken down by every single pick, but from that point, the contract sizes all get much closer. In turn, we’ll then evaluate the ranges for picks in each of the other rounds.


NFL Rookie Contracts: Round 1

Each pick is set with its current salary and Spotrac has broken them down. We’ll label the total value of picks first, followed by signing bonuses.

Pick Number Total Value Signing Bonus
No. 1 $35,035,000 $23,500,000
No. 2 $33,434,347 $22,335,889
No. 3 $32,415,769 $21,595,105
No. 4 $31,251,646 $20,748,470
No. 5 $29,214,446 $19,266,869
No. 6 $25,576,601 $16,621,164
No. 7 $22,666,324 $14,504,599
No. 8 $19,756,047 $12,388,034
No. 9 $19,610,368 $12,282,086
No. 10 $18,810,201 $11,700,147
No. 11 $17,573,345 $10,800,615
No. 12 $15,827,165 $9,530,665
No. 13 $15,390,626 $9,213,183
No. 14 $14,663,059 $8,684,043
No. 15 $14,372,048 $8,472,399
No. 16 $13,498,945 $7,837,414
No. 17 $13,207,916 $7,625,757
No. 18 $12,844,137 $7,361,191
No. 19 $12,625,859 $7,202,443
No. 20 $12,553,108 $7,149,533
No. 21 $12,480,349 $7,096,618
No. 22 $12,334,830 $6,990,786
No. 23 $12,189,321 $6,884,960
No. 24 $11,898,292 $6,673,303
No. 25 $11,752,782 $6,567,478
No. 26 $11,607,245 $6,461,633
No. 27 $11,461,753 $6,355,821
No. 28 $11,388,994 $6,302,905
No. 29 $10,805,156 $5,878,296
No. 30 $10,495,976 $5,653,437
No. 31 $10,236,987 $5,465,081
No. 32 $10,070,227 $5,343,801

NFL Rookie Contracts: Round 2

Although the pay structure varies quite a bit in the first round, it’s not nearly as drastic when evaluating rounds two through seven of the draft currently. Players picked in these rounds receive contracts that are much closer in overall value. First, here’s a general breakdown of the second round, courtesy of Spotrac.

Pick Range Total Value Signing Bonus
Picks 33-41 $7,650,500 to $7,125,435 $3,584,000 to $3,202,135
Picks 42-48 $6,994,472 to $6,077,737 $3,106,889 to $2,440,173
Picks 49-64 $5,932,210 to $4,578,946 $2,334,334 to $1,350,142

NFL Draft Rookie Contracts: Round 3

Pick Range Total Value Signing Bonus
Picks 65-74 $4,278,420 to $4,028,376 $1,138,382 to $1,031,870
Picks 75-92 $3,975,925 to $3,624,290 $1,002,690 to $863,695
Picks 93-102* $3,458,115 to $3,399,480 $793,704 to $761,516

*Some picks in this round and often this range are compensatory


NFL Draft Contracts: Rounds 4 -7

Round Total Value Signing Bonus
Round 4 $3,324,499 to $3,006,531* $804,499 to $486,531
Round 5 $2,868,832 to $2,753,988* $348,832 to $233,988
Round 6 $2,728,511 to $2,647,353* $208,511 to $127,353
Round 7 $2,631,885 to $2,594,288* $111,885 to $74,288

*Some picks in this round are compensatory

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Breaking down how much money, size of contracts and signing bonuses players selected in each of the rounds of the NFL draft make.