Annual amount of guaranteed money paid to NFL players is over 2 Billion
The signing bonus is, without a doubt, the most important part of an NFL player’s contract, because the money is guaranteed. That money is theirs to keep, even if they never play another down in the NFL. It is one of several forms of guaranteed payouts players receive.
Others include the "roster" bonus, which pays a player a certain amount if he is on the roster on a specific day, and a "workout" bonus, which pays a player a specific amount if he works out with the team during the offseason.
Additionally, there are incentive bonuses, paid to players for attaining specific performance goals based on playing time and statistical achievements.
I did some analysis of the guaranteed signing bonus money by using Sportrac.com, a website that has an extensive database of every NFL player contract. The website captures information on the length of a contract, the total dollar amount of a contract, the average annual amount of the contract, and the guaranteed amount of the contract – including the amount of guaranteed money as a percentage of the total contract.
For example, Eli Manning’s contract runs from 2015 to 2019 - a 4 year period. The total amount of his contract is $84 million. His average annual amount would be $21 million if he played every year of the contract. In reality, most players never make it to the last years of their contracts, so the salary portion of their contracts are, in many cases, never earned. That is why the bonus money is such an important part of a contract.
Eli Manning will receive $65 million in guaranteed money, which is 77.38% of his overall contract. That’s a very good percentage when you consider that the average for NFL players is approximately 25%.
I thought it would be interesting to see just how much money the NFL was guaranteeing players, so I sorted the information showing the guaranteed money for each player (from highest to lowest) over the length of their contracts. According to Sportrac data, there are 1,915 players currently under contract. You can see the chart I developed at this link: NFL Guaranteed Signing Bonus Money
The total amount of guaranteed money for all players - over the length of their current contracts is more than 7.5 Billion, or $7,583,293,923 to be exact.
The length of player contracts vary from 1 to 8 years, but the average contract length for all players is 3.5 years, therefore the average annual amount of guaranteed money paid to NFL players is over 2 Billion, or to be exact $2,166,655,407.
Over 2 Billion in guaranteed money on a yearly basis! Remember, that doesn’t include salaries, incentives and other benefits that players can earn over the life of their contracts.
NFL players have come a long way since the league was established in 1920. Players formed an Association in 1956, but the owner’s and even the coaches did not recognize the new organization as exemplified by Coach Paul Brown’s statement that “it was both just and necessary that management could cut, trade, bench, blackball and own in perpetuity anyone and everyone that it wanted".
Unable to get the owner's attention and respect, the NFLPA threatened to bring an antitrust lawsuit against the league and in 1957 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Radovich v. National Football League. “What I did opened doors”, Bill Radovich said. “It’s the first time that any professional sport was ever taken to court and beaten.” After the court case, Bill never worked in football again and died in 2002.
In 1968, the NFLPA declared itself an independent union, but many players were still dissatisfied with the lack of compensation teams provided and voted to strike on July 3, 1968 after official discussions with the owners stalled. Players also went on strike in 1970, 1974, 1982 and 1987, but ultimately, it was the anti-trust lawsuit won by Freeman McNeil – along with the threat of a class action lawsuit filed by Reggie White, that caused the parties to settle. The 1993 CBA finally gave players free agency and it opened the floodgates on player salaries, bonuses, incentives and benefits. None of this would have happened without the blood, sweat and tears of the older generation of players that formed the union, went on strike and sued the NFL to get better wages and benefits.
Since 1993, the revenues generated by the NFL and the NFLPA have continued to grow exponentially and other than the 2010 owner lockout, it has led to relatively peaceful labor negotiations. The NFLPA and the league have extended the 1993 CBA six times. It’s been 28 years since the last player strike!
I’m not sure if the active players really understand how good they have it…….or why they have it so good.
In addition to getting enormous salaries, bonuses and benefit increases, the current players have also benefitted from the concussion lawsuits that were filed by former players that forced the NFL and NFLPA to change numerous rules, regulations and policies to improve the health and safety of current players. Most notably, the rule changes that penalized and fined players for using their helmets as a battering ram. The current players now have five fewer weeks of organized off-season practice, limited on-field practice time, limited full-contact practices, elimination of two-a-day practices in pads, an increase in the number of days off of work and most importantly - concussion protocols that were instituted to prevent players from going back into games after they have been “dinged” or had their “bells rung.” Nice ways of saying a player incurred a mild traumatic brain injury.
The days of the “How many fingers am I holding up” sideline diagnosis and the ammonia capsule treatments are gone forever.
In spite of all the things we have done to improve the health and wealth of the current players, former players are still getting the short end of the stick when pension benefits and other benefits are being negotiated.
Former players have filed their own share of lawsuits in an attempt to get a fair amount of benefits from the NFL and NFLPA. Even though the lawsuit filed by Carl Eller and 28 other former players was eventually dismissed, it sent a strong message and showed the NFLPA that many former players were upset about the way they were being treated by the union.
When he was first elected as Executive Director of the NFLPA, DeMaurice Smith said “We have a moral obligation to the retired players, we have a fiduciary obligation to the retired players. That obligation has to be both in words and deeds. If you fail in either one, you fail.”
Apparently, there were a number of former players that believed the NFLPA failed. Some even went so far as to ask the AFL-CIO to expel the NFLPA from its membership. The letter from 20 players that included 7 Hall of Famers said “The NFLPA has disregarded and interfered with the rights and needs of its retired members at a time when their issues are of paramount importance. Its moral failures disgrace the principles and foundations of a union organization.”
Although many former players are appreciative of the increases that have been made to our pension plan and other benefit plans, many are concerned that the NFL and NFLPA have not gone far enough in addressing the inequality that still exists in the pensions of the pre-1993 players. The Legacy benefit increased pre-1993 pensions by $620 million. That’s $62 million a year when spread out over the 10 year term of the CBA.
To put that in perspective, the guaranteed bonuses for the top 11 players in the NFL are more than $648 million. That’s 28 million more than the entire Legacy benefit is costing.
Eli Manning $65,000,000Philip Rivers$65,000,000Russell Wilson $61,542,000Colin Kaepernick$61,000,000Cam Newton $60,000,000Marcell Dareus$60,000,000Ndamukong Suh $59,955,000Tony Romo$55,000,000Jay Cutler$54,000,000Aaron Rodgers$54,000,000Calvin Johnson$53,250,000
Do the NFL and NFLPA have the money to give former players another boost in their pensions? Of course they do. If they can pay the active players over 2 Billion annually in bonus money, I think they can find a way to increase the pensions of players that sacfificed so much to build the foundations of the NFL and the NFLPA.
The really important question is…….will they?
I think they will........but it will only happen if enough of us join together and tell them exactly why we deserve it!
