How do coaches in the NFL get paid?
We also see in the news the massive amounts of money NFL contracts are. But a question we fail to ask is how do coaches get paid, and how does it affect the overall team, and their finances?
NFL teams pay players a varying amount of money depending on their position, and their overall value to a team. While a backup safety may make around $1-2 million dollars, a star quarterback can make $50 million, fully guaranteed, which means even if they get released, the team is required to pay them however much the contract was.
Coaching contracts work similar, but slightly different. When NFL teams hire a head coach, they usually sign them to long term deals, upward of 6-8 years. The length of the contract doesn’t especially matter, as an NFL franchise can fire a head coach whenever they want. In terms of money, it varies per head coach. The key difference between NFL coaches contracts, and player contracts, is that coaches contracts are always fully guaranteed. As with the players’ contracts, this means that even if a coach gets fired in their first year, they will get paid all of their money from the contract.
Do certain Head Coaches make more than others?
Looking at a chart breakdown of the 5 highest paid head coaches:
| 1. Bill Belichick | New England Patriots | $20 million |
| 2. Sean Payton | Denver Broncos | $18 million |
| 3. Pete Carroll | Seattle Seahawks | $15 million |
| 4. Sean McVay | Los Angeles Rams | $15 million |
| 5. Mike Tomlin | Pittsburgh Steelers | $12.5 million |
We can see that having team success is crucial to how much an NFL coach gets paid. This is clearly shown, as all of the top 5 most paid coaches have won a super bowl for their respective franchise. Also, all head coaches in the list have been coaching their team for some time now, and have received lofty extensions based on their team success.
Looking at a chart breakdown of the 5 lowest paid head coaches:
| 28. Matt LaFleur | Green Bay Packers | $5 million |
| 29. Robert Saleh | New York Jets | $5 million |
| 30. Zac Taylor | Cincinnati Bengals | $4.5 million |
| 31. Mike McCarthy | Dallas Cowboys | $4 million |
| 32. Kevin Stefanski | Cleveland Browns | $3.5 million |
This once again proves how important winning a super bowl is, as none of the 5 lowest paid NFL coaches has won a super bowl. Another interesting point is that the market size of the NFL has no effect on how much the head coach gets paid. For example, Mike McCarthy, head coach of the Dallas Cowboys, ranks 31 in the NFL in terms of salary for coaches, even though Dallas is considered one of the biggest markets in the NFL.
Does the salary of a Head Coach affect a team salary cap?
After seeing that certain NFL head coaches get paid much more than others, it begs the question if a head coach’s salary affects their own team’s salary cap. The salary cap was implemented so that NFL teams can only spend a certain amount of money per year. This makes it fair for small market teams, who make less revenue than big market teams.
NFL head coaches get paid from the teams ownership. This means that no matter what an NFL head coach makes, it will not affect the salary cap. This also brings up the fact that NFL teams with deep pockets should be able to overpay for an outstanding head coach. However, overspending on a head coach can be scrutinized in the media, and NFL owners aren’t usually ready to give up that much money, since their contracts are guaranteed.