Want to Make $400,000 for 18 Weeks of Work? Just Make an NFL Practice Squad

Just 53 players are on the active roster of a National Football League team. That’s rare company, and even the least-compensated of them will make $840,000 this season. Even those who don’t quite make the cut, however, will do OK.

Each of the 32 teams in the NFL, whose new season kicked off Thursday night, has a practice squad, which consists of 17 players. Those players train, eat, and travel with the team but wear street clothes during games. Still, they receive a Super Bowl ring if their team wins the championship—and earn a pretty penny.

Rookies or those with just one prior year of service receive $13,000 a week on the practice squad, while those with two or more years of service earn between $17,500 and $22,000 for each of the NFL’s 18 weeks.

In other words, inexperienced players could earn up to $234,000 if they remain on the practice squad all season, while veterans could bring home between $315,000 and $396,000. The salaries are not guaranteed, and players don’t receive signing bonuses.

Veteran defensive tackle Breiden Fehoko was released by the Pittsburgh Steelers Aug. 18. Fehoko, who spent much of the prior two seasons bouncing between the Steelers’ active roster and practice squad, responded to ribbing on X by saying, “I be laughing when people say ‘you’re a Practice Squad player bum’ 400k for 6 months of work.”

At the other end of the NFL’s salary spectrum is Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who will earn $60 million this season. Prescott, who signed a four-year, $240 million contract extension before the Cowboys’ season opener last year, is one of 11 NFL players to earn at least $50 million in 2025, per Over the Cap. They’re all quarterbacks.

Cowboys Lead NFL Franchise Valuations, CNBC Says

The players are paid by franchises worth billions of dollars.

The average NFL franchise is worth $7.65 billion, up 18% from last year, according to CNBC, which put out its annual list Thursday.

The Cowboys once again have the highest valuation, at $12.5 billion, up from $11 billion in 2024. The franchise last year “generated about $300 million in sponsorship revenue, by far the most in the NFL, according to a person familiar with the matter,” CNBC said, adding that it was the only team to bring in more than $1 billion in revenue for a second straight year.

Even the lowest-ranked franchise by CNBC’s measure, the Arizona Cardinals, is worth $5.9 billion.

Of the 100 most-watched U.S. telecasts last year, 72 were NFL games, per Nielsen, and CNBC noted that “media rights deals now generate an average of $12.4 billion annually, according to a person familiar with the contracts.”