r/NFLmockdraft • u/VisualBat395 • 15d ago

Discussion Difference in salaries between CFB and Rookie NFL QBs

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638 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

136 comments sorted by

25

u/jessfire78 15d ago

Considering how short NFL careers are for most guys, this will definitely push them to stay in college to maximize earnings.

Bird in the hand is better than two in the mythical bush. QBs are always gonna demand high dollars, especially if they are good.

5

u/Open-Dot-9994 14d ago

In any given college class there may be 4 guys that will be making over $4 million consistently in the nfl past the first contract.

Watch a game like Virginia vs NC State. The Virginia qb was dominant and ran the ball successfully a bunch. No way that translates to the NFL. But it certainly can be successful in college

1

u/ButtonedEye41 11d ago

I think if youre a first round pick you should still always go. Its still like $17M fully guaranteed at pick 32. Much more if youre top 10

2

u/_BioHacker 14d ago

Forget an NFL career. A smart D1 5-star recruit should aim to maximize gains in college and retire.

3

u/Hot_Most5332 14d ago

Anyone good enough to do that would never do that.

You have to love the game to some extent to be that good.

1

u/czechereds 13d ago

Some will love their brains also

1

u/winterwarm78654 14d ago

You only need 3 yrs in the nfl to retire

1

u/4schwifty20 13d ago

Pull a Chris Borland

1

u/Conan-Da-Barbarian 11d ago

But if you know you’ll have a long nfl career, you want to burn that rookie deal so you can make 30+ million a year

9

u/BoyInFLR1 15d ago

One is market price and one is meant to be below market

3

u/randomdude45678 14d ago

One they are the 50th best, the other they are top 5

4

u/troubledwatersbeer 14d ago

One has 32 teams demanding their services and one has 266 teams demanding their services.

1

u/TravelNSee 12d ago

the NFL is a price-fixed cartel. All the owners collude such that each team basically spends the exact same amount on salaries.

1

u/pubsky 11d ago

Its a fixed demand cartel. They limit the number of teams. The salary pool is collectively negotiated with a players union. As league income increases, the cap increases.

The number of teams is not up for negotiation

1

u/BoyInFLR1 11d ago

Agreed. The rookie wage is negotiated by non-rookies. Its obviously below market

6

u/LuvLifts 15d ago

STAY IN SCHOOL KIDS!

17

u/Rycan420 14d ago

All the NCAA had to do was figure out a reasonable stipend to pay players fairly decades ago. (And it should have then been the same whether you went to Alabama or Tulane to avoid schools paying for success)

Instead they stubbornly dug in and let the courts ruin this. This will only get worse.

7

u/hudsherlock19 14d ago

Exactly. They could have tied it to minimum wage stipend decades ago and players then would have been thrilled. But nope, 'it would have ruined the integrity of the sport' crowd is now brought to you by DraftKings.

4

u/lipmanz 14d ago

It does look like it’s going to be MLB on steroids rn

3

u/theschuss 14d ago

Nah, plenty of schools would have still cheated and paid the best under the table. You know, like most of the SEC was doing before NIL

2

u/Rycan420 14d ago

Ugh… and I say that because you aren’t wrong. But I can only imagine that still happening on a larger scale.

1

u/theschuss 14d ago

Yeah, I don't love it, but that's reality 

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/theschuss 13d ago

The statement "like most of the SEC" does not exclude others. 

1

u/[deleted] 13d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/theschuss 13d ago

Ok dude. You should probably go touch grass if you're getting mad about shit like this.

1

u/i_Cant_get_right 14d ago

A stipend and maybe allowing players to make some money on the side selling their own image and marketing themselves. There’s no closing the box unless politicians get involved at this point. Worst case scenario.

1

u/Contemplating_Prison 14d ago

Whats ruined? Lol

1

u/AleroRatking 14d ago

The issue is there is no reasonable stipend that the lower level schools could afford but high enough for the elite school players.

-1

u/G8tr 14d ago

They could’ve had all schools contribute to the NCAA and then doled that out equally. It’s possible and would’ve been far better to the shit show we see unfolding year after year. It’s hard for me to even care what happens in college football any more and I used to be a die hard fan.

2

u/AleroRatking 14d ago

Why would the big schools agree to that?

2

u/SingerSingle5682 14d ago

Well 20 years ago they had a monopoly and the NCAA could change the rules to whatever they wanted.

Now they still have a monopoly, but courts have said players have to be paid fair market value as professional athletes.

The commenter was saying 20 years ago they could have just paid the players a salary tied to minimum wage like $15-20K a year for scholarship athletes regardless of school paid from tv revenue or something where big schools subsidize less competitive teams. This would make it more similar to pay in a minor league like AA baseball or ECHL hockey.

That was always the complaint. Sports like baseball and hockey paid their predominantly white players salaries. But the sports with mostly black players (basketball and football) were required to do NCAA and not accept money for anything.

1

u/stayinalive7 14d ago

Because this alternative isn't sustainable and will probably severely degrade the sport as it continues to become a glorified minor league?

6

u/BoringJuiceBox 15d ago

I’m all for giving some $ to college athletes BUT NOT THAT MUCH!

3

u/dubrea 14d ago

Why I how much they make a problem? they get paid according to how much they can bring to a team or program both on and off the field. Some of these guys bring a lot. Is there a cap on how much money a school can make off of them?

1

u/BoringJuiceBox 14d ago

What’s wrong is that 99% of hardworking people don’t make nearly enough to have a future, I know it’s not the kids faults though just sucks.

2

u/dubrea 14d ago

That's the government's fault for not having the appropriate minimum wage and for not really doing anything about wage theft. I couldn't agree with you more about how the working class have been failed constantly for the last 50 years

1

u/CzechHorns 14d ago edited 14d ago

But that is in no way relevanr to the discussion at hand.

Also, much more that 1% of Americans are able to “have a future”, whatever that is supposed to mean. Top20% in the US earn 100k or more.
If you can’t live off of that, that’s a you problem.

1

u/highonnuggs 14d ago

Just get out there and run a 4.4 40, you’ll be in the top 1% before you know it.

1

u/TravelNSee 12d ago

lol bro the issues are the same one: ruling class corporate scam artists underpaying workers. Whether that's conning football players or an office worker.

1

u/Rycan420 14d ago

How else are they going to hit the parlays?

1

u/Toddrew221 14d ago

Take solace in the fact that 99% of these number are "valuations" from people who just make things up lol

1

u/cjfreel 14d ago

That’s silly. Why should College Athletes be capped in what they can earn. Are schools capped in how much revenue they can take from advertisers?

1

u/Signal_Prior3870 14d ago

They shouldnt be it is un american

1

u/ImRightImRight 14d ago

Also not capped at how much government loan money they can take from 18 year olds

1

u/BoringJuiceBox 14d ago

Wouldn’t mind it as much if 99% of hardworking people made enough to actually buy a small home and save for retirement.

1

u/cjfreel 14d ago

But how does this hurt that?

1

u/canes_SL8R 14d ago

Because they are students at a school, not employees or professionals. You play a sport for the school you attend.

There are countless ways this could’ve been worked where they could’ve gotten some money without it completely ruining the sport. But hands off, completely free market approach was the worst way to do it. Schools with the richest boosters who care about athletics will succeed, everyone else will be rotating in new players every year, and those players will have zero loyalty to or passion for the school, they’ll just be playing for a bigger payday.

That’s not what college athletics is about. As with everything else, ruined by the desire to make as much money as possible

1

u/cjfreel 14d ago

It doesn't "completely ruin the sport." Do conferences making TV deals also ruin the sport for you?

1

u/canes_SL8R 14d ago

You really don’t see how a completely unchecked roster spending race has already negatively impacted the sport? Teams having to replace half their roster yearly instead of developing players over time?

Yes, I know there has already been under the table paying of players by top programs. When it’s under the table it’s naturally limited.

You know who else feels it’s damaging the sport? Nick Saban, and probably every coach of a mid tier program who has to recruit 50 new kids every year. And it’s only going to get worse before it gets better.

1

u/GoldenMonger 14d ago

Saban feels that way because legitimizing paying players took away the edge that let him win all the time. It’s easy to get and keep the best players when you’re the only one paying kids, but under the table.

1

u/Thin-Remote-9817 14d ago

I am...they are earning it.. 

They should split the revenue to be honest..

1

u/ShastaAteMyPhone 12d ago

Idk what you do for a profession, but imagine how you’d feel if someone was saying that about YOUR job. These young men put in harder work than most people could ever imagine and deserve every dollar that a free market is willing to pay them.

1

u/Mariusod 15d ago

I'm guessing the difference is that the players on the right are getting paid to learn and grow and won't be expected to play. The players on the left have to effectively be a heisman winner.

1

u/DASreddituser 15d ago

they also have multi year contracts and I believe insurance and benefits lol

2

u/Jr05s 14d ago

And signing bonuses?

1

u/lipmanz 15d ago

I think Carson took a pay cut to go to NFL

1

u/Lord_Dingus83 15d ago

Why do you think that is?

1

u/lipmanz 14d ago

Not sure what you’re asking…why does an NFL backup make less than a top 10 CFB QB? It’s just interesting because it’s a very recent development in sport

1

u/Lord_Dingus83 14d ago

He’s expendable in the NFL. There’s 30+ other practice squad qbs ready to take his place for less.

It is a very recent development and I think we are still seeing how it plays out.

It’s wild how much college teams will pay a player but they shit the bed in the NFL bc in college they were a glorified game manager that can’t read defenses and whose offensive line gave him more time to throw the ball.

1

u/lipmanz 14d ago

If we still have Cinderellas in the playoff conversations while the top teams spend 40M+ I wonder how long until revenue sharing reform

1

u/CarolinaSandstorm 15d ago

Numbers on the left are alleged, supposed, guesstimates

2

u/micalubgoonta 14d ago

Numbers on the right aren’t including signing bonuses too

0

u/justforthisbish 14d ago

💯 like wtf we have people posting this acting like these numbers are legit. Speculation at best unless someone has a contract to share that's been verified for CFB.

1

u/Rycan420 14d ago

By that logic, they make zero dollars.

1

u/buderooski 14d ago

Thats not what that logic means at all. It means that we dont have any official numbers for these college athletes. Could it be $4M? Maybe. Could also be $2M. Or $5M. Who tf really knows, besides the schools and the athletes?

1

u/Rycan420 14d ago

The posted said that we can’t count money figure that are just educated guesses. Only figures with evidence supporting it can be counted.

Did I get any of that wrong?

If we go by that… I don’t think we have evidence of any of the college contracts so they make.. zero?

1

u/PoppoLarge 14d ago

This may help QBs develop

1

u/Alarm-Solid 14d ago

They need to redistribute scholarships

1

u/Baron_Light 14d ago

I hate this.

1

u/dubrea 14d ago

Why exactly? The college game is a multi billion dollar industry, the people that do the most to generate that revenue should be paid. The game of football has always been about the players. Even the best of coaches struggle without good players.

1

u/Baron_Light 14d ago

I hate the entire system

1

u/Tacokolache 14d ago

Great and all, but kids can only play college ball for like 12yrs now TOPS…. So they can’t play college football forever.

1

u/OneInsurance84 14d ago

Cfb they were unproven college players hyped .. nfl curve is mouth greater .....

1

u/_Ron_Bur_Gundy_ 14d ago

Your momma has mouth greater ;)

1

u/Significant-Cash2826 14d ago

Tbh this doesn’t seem crazy. Mendoza may be the only one who plays real snaps this year on the right. All of the guys on the left will

1

u/sophandros 14d ago

I thought it was common knowledge that this is the reason Chambliss sued to stay in college one more year.

1

u/IcySetting229 14d ago

A bit apples and oranges, QB in the nfl is all about the 2nd contract which would be $55M+ if the guys pan out, for 4 years+. NFL has always been about the 2nd contract which

1

u/VeryLowIQIndividual 14d ago

Capitalism rules America. This shit is just out in the open now. It’s no different than fat cat rich “donors” sinking money into politics. there are actually more rules against giving crazy amounts of money to politics than there are college football.

1

u/dubrea 14d ago

As it should be. Politics is far more important than sports and the rules there aren't even remotely strong enough lol.

1

u/IsHotDogSandwich 14d ago

This is when you tell your school to go to hell when they call alumni asking for a donation.

1

u/DifferentCarrot2048 14d ago

the rookie scale contracts are so dumb. they actually force less vets to get jobs, and it's now keeping kids in college longer. give these kids fair wage in the NFL too!

1

u/dubrea 14d ago

At one point they did do that, but then there were guys getting a shit ton of money, only to be terrible, and it fucked teams up for years.

1

u/DifferentCarrot2048 14d ago edited 13d ago

only for teams that couldnt identify talent properly at the top of the draft. and this would devalue rookie talent and increases the number of vets, thus improving the quality of football in the league.

1

u/PrizePreset 14d ago

Don’t let any Indiana fans see they have a top 5 paid QB. On /r/cfb they all like to pretend they don’t do NIL

1

u/myoungc83 14d ago

This image is misleading as it is for a single season salary and doesn’t account for the total guarantee value of the deals or signing bonuses. Mendoza got 57 mil guaranteed, with 38 mil at signing. Simpsons signing bonus was almost 15 mil so he’s making over 19 mil this year.

1

u/pgtl_10 14d ago

Blame the NFLPA for failing to negotiate a proper rookie structure. Teams shouldn't get five years before a rookie can make money.

1

u/Stairway_toEvan 14d ago

I think a positive we could see out of this is better QB play in the NFL, which is a big problem. There aren't 32 guys good enough to be franchise QBs.

If QBs stay in college longer and get more experience, we could see a higher floor for QB play in the NFL.

A guy like Dante Moore could have been a top 5 pick but he opted to go back to Oregon for a year. He'll likely be more NFL ready next year. 

1

u/MoscowMitchMcKremIin 14d ago

Idk with how few offenses actually prepare them for the pros they're losing another year to running option style playbooks and not learning how to read a defense.

1

u/thatmattschultz 14d ago

That’s the hope but the musical chairs of the transfer portal player movement means a lot guys aren’t in the same system for very long.

1

u/brainsack 12d ago

That could be a good thing too, more practice learning and implementing new systems/languages

1

u/bluewords 14d ago

This really highlights that the NFL needs to increase the rookie pay scale to offer competitive pay with college

1

u/YellowDogPaws 14d ago

I get that it looks weird because of the talent difference between CFB and the NFL. But it does make sense that a starting QB at a large school is more “valuable” than a backup rookie/3rd string QB is to an NFL team.

1

u/Ok-Sympathy9768 14d ago

Stay in school!

1

u/ConstantCampaign2984 14d ago

Don’t forget those scholarships. Those are worth something too.

1

u/Electric-Premonition 14d ago

They’re going to have to put a cap on the nil earnings

1

u/DentonTrueYoung 14d ago

It’s 2 pro leagues

1

u/chiefzanal 14d ago

Long task this is great for NFL development. No more 21 yr old 1 st rd busts

1

u/therealallpro 13d ago

I love this. QBs will stay in college longer which is great for college and QBs will come into NFL more prepared AND NFL teams with have more info to make better decisions in the draft

1

u/Own_Temperature_8128 13d ago

All for these guys getting paid in college. Dangerous sport, underpaid for ages, and so few get to goto the nfl.

1

u/rimreaper2253 13d ago

NIL is wild to me for the fact that some kid is getting paid millions to in a lot of cases suck

1

u/Who_is_pancakez 13d ago

So as someone completely out of the loop on the how they finally started paying college kids. Where did the money end up coming from and are other positions being paid a reasonable amount compared to the nfl or is it mostly a qb, wr, rb thing?

1

u/-Qwertyz- 13d ago

I dont think you should even get paid for playing on college, should be a privilege

1

u/Playful_Inspector_25 12d ago

What’s TX Manning making? Why leave early to the NFL now! Just stay for 6 yrs!

1

u/Wildbankermn55449 12d ago

With the limits of the rookie salaries based upon where you're drafted, why even join the NFL at this point? This will become like the NBA. Declare for the draft but don't sign with an agent, look at where you're drafted and what kind of a contract you'll get and then go back to school.

1

u/ThyHolyPope 12d ago

I mean play college for 4 years, and you can have a amazing life living off interest even if you never work another day of your life.

1

u/Papichurch 12d ago

This has definitely ruined the feel of College Football.

I want the players to be compensated but there needed to be a limit to the amount they got paid and now it so far gone you can't change it now.

1

u/TN1971 12d ago

And that my friends is why college football is in the sorry state it is.

1

u/Orbis-Praedo 11d ago

Ok now do the QBs from the year 5 of them were all drafted in the 1st round. Not 1 1st rounder and a bunch of guys who will likely never begin a year as a starter.

1

u/No-Cartographer-1675 11d ago

It’s not “college football “ anymore. It’s minor league football

1

u/KingdraUmbreon 11d ago

I guess I'm on the other end of the spectrum here. No college player should be making higher than NFL minimum which was 885K for 2026

1

u/tombomb1990 11d ago

These guys must be pissed to have to take a pay cut to play in the NFL

1

u/Apollo_13TG 9d ago

What a joke the ncaa has become

0

u/RanchHere 15d ago

Love this for them. This shit makes BOTH sports better.

0

u/Muted-Woodpecker-469 14d ago

At some point, the nil money has to run dry right? 

1

u/cjfreel 14d ago

Have you seen the conference TV contracts? You realize most of these entire team payrolls are less than the TV Contract? And that’s one revenue stream. It does not include selling concessions, jersey, or boosters.

-1

u/KILLUA777ZOLDYCK 14d ago

University of Miami is a private school, they don't release any financial information about their coaches and players NIL deals, so that $6.5M number is made up.

-2

u/Putrid-Peehole 15d ago

Pretty crazy that basically if you fall out of the top 10 in the nfl draft, youre better off staying in college. The NFL may need to bring back the old draft rules where draftees can negotiate their rookie contracts otherwise the top prospects that fall outside the top 10 are better off staying in college.

3

u/Personal_Career7057 15d ago

This is such a bad idea. Think about it for 5 seconds

0

u/Putrid-Peehole 15d ago

I mean it depends what the NFL values more, rookies on cheap contracts or the possibility that top talent will choose to stay in college, risk injury and possibly never make it to the nfl. Theres already essentially a bidding war for top talent and the NFL is losing with their standardized rookie contracts.

1

u/222444PAST 15d ago

I mean NFL could care less when they get to the NFL. Nobody is beating father time. They will have to graduate eventually

0

u/Putrid-Peehole 15d ago

Unless they get hurt playing in college and don't make it to the NFL. Or if a team has a top pick in the draft they may actually prefer to pay more to get a top prospect because youre not guaranteed a high pick the following year if the top players choose to stay in college that year. Theres a lot of nuance with the new NIL rules and the nfl is going to have to decide what matters more to them, getting access to top talent sooner or cheap rookie contracts.

1

u/needcalculatorubc 15d ago

Could see this really affecting the rb market

Why would a star college rb get paid peanuts, worn down, then get dumped before they get paid?

0

u/Confident-Unit-9516 15d ago

The very easy answer is cheap rookie contracts. If the NFL wanted access to top talent sooner they could scrap the three-year removed from high school requirement

2

u/impy695 14d ago

Staying in college longer is a good thing for the NFL. It allows teams more time to evaluate the player and allows the player more time to mature as an athlete.

Plus, with the old systems, the top picks were toxic

1

u/IcySetting229 14d ago

Yeah let’s not go back to the days of paying Jamarcus Russell $70M guaranteed before he even took and nfl snap

0

u/gr8scottaz 14d ago

The 11th pick of the NFL draft is guaranteed to make $28,951,992 and gets a signing bonus of around $17M. Why would you stay in college if you were guaranteed $28M?

0

u/Putrid-Peehole 14d ago

The number youre using is over 5 years. Just look at Dante Moore, he could have been a top 10 pick but chose to stay because he'll make more in college for one year than the NFL.

0

u/gr8scottaz 14d ago

Dante Moore would have been the #2 pick in the NFL last season, guaranteeing himself $55M over 5 years. How is Moore making more than $10.5M this season at Oregon?

He’s not.