What’s the League Minimum in the NFL?

The NFL minimum salary is $610,000 for rookies and $1.015 million for veterans. Find out how this affects your favorite team’s salary cap.

Introduction

In the National Football League, the league minimum salary is the salary floor for each player in each year of his NFL career. The league minimum salary is set by the NFL collective bargaining agreement (CBA) and applies to all players, whether they are rookies or veterans.

For a veteran player with 4 or more years of NFL experience, the league minimum salary in 2020 is $910,000. For a player with 2-3 years of experience, the league minimum salary is $775,000. For a player with 0-1 year of experience, the league minimum salary is $495,000.

In addition to the base salary, each player also receives a per diem of $163 for every day that he is required to be at training camp or team activities during the year.

History of the NFL minimum salary

Since the NFL’s inception in 1920, the league minimum salary has been $5,000. In 1957, the minimum salary was increased to $6,000. In 1974, it rose again to $10,000. The first significant increase in the NFL minimum salary occurred in 1978 when it rose to $30,000. This was followed by another increase in 1979 to $40,000. The peak year for NFL minimum salaries was 1981 when players with four or more years of experience earned a minimum of $60,000 while those with less than four years earned a minimum of $50,000. In 1984, the NFL minimum salary was reduced to $33,000. It remained at that level until 1987 when it was increased to $35,000. Between 1988 and 1989, the NFL minimum salary remained at $37,500. In 1990, it rose to its current level of $385 per week or $20,460 per year for players with fewer than two years of experience. Players with two or more years of experience earn a minimum of $425 per week or $22260 per year.

The current NFL minimum salary

The current NFL minimum salary is $610,000 for rookies and $825,000 for veterans. The minimum salary is set by the NFL’s collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union.

How the NFL minimum salary is calculated

The NFL minimum salary is $495,000 for the 2020 season, an increase of $25,000 from the 2019 season. NFL minimum salaries increased by $15,000 in 2018 and by $10,000 in 2017. The league minimum salary applies to all players on active rosters in the NFL at any given time during the league year.

In order to determine the league minimum salary, we must first look at the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and the NFLPA. The current CBA was signed in 2011 and runs through the 2020 season. According to Article 4, Section 1 of the CBA, “The League Minimum Salary for a League Year will be an Equipment Allowance (as described in Article 39) plus Paragraph 5 Salaries for that League Year as set forth below.”

Paragraph 5 Salaries are calculated using a “Percentage of Salary Cap” formula that is designed to increase or decrease along with changes in the overall salary cap. For example, if the salary cap is $100 million in a given year, a player on a minimum salary contract would earn $495,000 (which is 0.495% of $100 million). However, if the salary cap increases to $120 million in subsequent year, that same player would then earn $594,000 under his contract (or 0.495% of $120 million).

How the NFL minimum salary affects player contracts

The NFL minimum salary is $435,000 for the 2020 season, an increase of $15,000 from the 2019 season. The minimum salary for players with two or fewer years of experience is $610,100. Players with three or more years of experience are eligible for a minimum salary of $850,000.

When a player signs a contract, their base salary is typically lower than the maximum allowed by the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). In order to bring their salaries up to the league minimum, teams often include what are known as “Minimum Salary Benefit” (MSB) provisions in player contracts. These MSB provisions guarantee that a certain percentage of the player’s contract will be paid out at the league minimum salary if they are cut or traded during the term of their contract.

For example, let’s say a player signs a four-year contract with a base salary of $1 million per year and an MSB provision that guarantees them 80% of their base salary if they are cut or traded during the first two years of their contract. If that player is cut or traded during the first two years of their contract, they would still be owed $800,000 (80% of their original $1 million base salary) by their new team.

The MSB provision can be beneficial for players who are cut or traded mid-contract because it gives them some financial security knowing that they will still be paid a portion of their original salary even if they are no longer on the team. However, MSB provisions can also limit a team’s ability to trade or release a player mid-contract because they still owe that player a significant portion of their original salary. For this reason, MSB provisions are often negotiated on a case-by-case basis between teams and players.

Conclusion

The league minimum salary in the NFL is $610,000 for players with three credited seasons, and $645,000 for players with four or more credited seasons. Salaries rise to $1 million for players with 10 or more credited seasons. There is also a rookie wage scale in place for first-year players.