The 2025 NFL Draft is underway, so all eyes are on the next wave of NFL rookies.
While these prospects are realizing their NFL dream, many are also earning generational wealth. How much do draft picks get paid once they hear their names called?
How NFL Draft Picks Get Paid: Is It by Round?
Not all rookie contracts are created equally. Some players are earning significantly more than their peers. The contracts are four-year deals (with a fifth-year option for certain players), but the money differs due to the rookie pay scale.
So, how does the rookie pay scale work across the league? And is there a ceiling?
Long story short, the higher the pick, the higher the salary.
- No. 1 overall pick: In 2025, the No. 1 overall pick will sign a contract worth $43.01 million, with a rookie salary of $7.82 million.
- Last pick of first round (No. 32): The final pick of the first round will sign a contract worth $13,349,728, with a rookie salary of $2,427,223.
But how does it work for the rest of the rookies who get selected at No. 33 overall and beyond? Here’s how the second- to seventh-round pay scales work for every rookie:
- Second-rounders: The highest pick contract for the top second-rounder is $9.6 million in total value and $3.9 million in signing bonus. The lowest pick for the second round’s contract earns $6 million in total value and $1.4 million in signing bonus.
- Third-rounders: The highest pick (No. 65) of the third round gets $5.7 million in total value and $1.2 million as a signing bonus. The lowest pick (No. 100) will earn close to $5.3 million in total value and then more than $857,000 in signing bonus.
- Fourth-rounders: Top pick (No. 101) will get close to $4.6 million. They’ll receive approximately $510,000 for a signing bonus. The last fourth-round selection will be handed $4.35 million and $509,000 in bonus cash.
- Fifth-rounders: The 136th selection can earn a $4.2 million deal with a $362,000 signing bonus. The final pick of the fifth (176th due to compensatory picks), earns close to $4.1 million and $245,000 in signing bonus.
- Sixth-rounders: Pick No. 177 can sign a deal in the $4.050 million range with a signing bonus of more than $218,000. The final pick of this round, No. 220, is given $3.97 million to start followed by a $133,000 bonus.
- Seventh-rounders: The first pick here (No. 221) starts with up to $3.95 million with a signing bonus of close to $117,000. The last pick, best known as “Mr. Irrelevant,” gets handed $3.9 million along with approximately $78,000 in bonus money.
This format wasn’t always the rookie scale. Turns out, a past rookie QB signing changed the way rookie contracts work now.
Which Rookie QB Helped Alter the Draft Contract Market?
Sam Bradford will forever be remembered as the reason the NFL adopted the rookie scale.
In 2010, the Oklahoma Sooners star went No. 1 overall to the St. Louis Rams, and he signed whopping $78 million contract for six years with $50 million in guaranteed money.
KEEP READING: Can an NFL Draft Pick Refuse To Sign Their Contract?
The Bradford deal sparked changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement the following year. On Aug. 4, 2010, changes began taking place with how much money teams can give their rookies.
Now, names like Cam Ward, Travis Hunter, Abdul Hunter, Ashton Jeanty, Shedeur Sanders, and others will have to sign a rookie-scale contract rather than negotiating their own unique deal.
