How much do 2nd round NFL draft picks make?

Although accepting a rookie deal in the NFL has its formalities, 31 collegiate football players will become multi-millionaires next month after the 2023 NFL draft takes place.

While it may not come with similar deals as having your name called on the first day, NFL draft players in the second and third rounds receive significant wages. The salary for the second-round draft selections varies from $1,579,416 to $952,995, according to Over the Cap. Salary ranges from $899,198 to $818,073 for third-round selections.

All second- and third-round picks from day two are made to sign four-year agreements. According to Over the Cap, the top second-round pick inks a four-year, $8.68 million contract with a $3.87 million signing bonus. The final selection in the second round signs a $5.24-million contract spanning four years, along with a $1.37 million signing bonus.

Of course, as the draft progresses, the contract values decreases but not at a predictable rate. The fifth and sixth picks in the first round have the largest discrepancy in contract values. The deal for the fifth-selected player is worth around $4.232 million more than the contract for the sixth-selected player. Throughout the course of the deal, that's a difference of about $1.058 million annually.

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How does the wage scale work in the NFL?

The rookie pay scale is a salary cap within the total salary cap. The expansion of the pay cap is primarily responsible for the rise in rookie earnings from one draft class to the next.

The entire amount of rookies' remuneration is subject to a league-wide cap, and there're set salary caps for each draft class. Depending on their position in the draft, treams can spend up to a certain amount on each selection.

With rookie deals, there aren't many things that can be negotiated. All agreements for draft picks have a four-year term. In the first year and during the course of the four-year agreement, there's a salary baseline and limit for each selection made in the draft. Basic pay, signing bonus, roster bonus, workout bonus, reporting bonus and selection incentives are the basic salary elements of a rookie contract.

Players have the chance to earn additional money — sometimes millions of dollars — through sponsorship deals, regardless of when they're finally chosen in the draft.

Trevor Lawrence struck an agreement with Gatorade valued at up to $2 million per year before being selected as the first overall in the 2021 NFL draft. He also secured arrangements with Adidas and the cryptocurrency exchange Blockfolio.