Tag: Salary

Wisconsin HC Luke Fickell among the top 25 highest paid coaches in college football

Where does Luke Fickell rank among CFB’s highest-paid coaches?

USA Today recently released its 2023 College Football Coaching Salary Index, releasing the top coaching salaries across college football.

The sport these days is about competition, in every facet. Whether it’s recruiting, facilities, coaching salaries or on the field, a college football program needs a hefty sum of money to make the entire operation work.

As is the case with any business operating on the level college football does, there is a lot of money coming in to make it all possible.

Wisconsin entered this so-called arms race last November when it hired Cincinnati head coach Luke Fickell. Fickell was one of the hottest names in the sport and had plenty of programs trying to win his services in previous years.

How much money is Wisconsin reportedly paying Fickell? There’s an answer to that, and where he falls among the top coaches in the sport:

Saints, Cesar Ruiz reach agreement on 4-year contract extension

The Saints and Cesar Ruiz reached an agreement on a 4-year contract extension making him the league’s 6th highest-paid right guard:

This is good to see: NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports that the New Orleans Saints cut a last-minute deal with right guard Cesar Ruiz on a four-year contract extension valued at up to $46 million, carrying $30 million in guarantees. It’s a well-earned reward for a young player who broke out last season and built on that momentum throughout the summer.

Ruiz will be the sixth-highest paid right guard in the NFL at $11.5 million in average per year pay, which tells us the Saints are expecting him to continue to develop into a quality player for them up front. Here are the right guards earning more per year than him:

  1. Chris Lindstrom (Atlanta Falcons): $20.5 million
  2. Zack Martin (Dallas Cowboys): $18.4 million
  3. Brandon Scherff (Jacksonville Jaguars): $16.5 million
  4. Wyatt Teller (Cleveland Browns): $14.2 million
  5. Shaquille Mason (Houston Texans): $11.6 million

Ruiz only allowed 3 sacks and 14 total pressures last season during 14 starts, drawing just 3 penalty flags — with 2 fouls coming when he was lined up at center instead of right guard. If he can stay healthy and continue to improve this could turn out to be a great investment for the Saints. Ruiz was also one of the team’s top pending free agents for 2024, so it made sense to get this deal done now and take him off the board.

It’s also the second last-minute extension they’ve hammered out with an offensive lineman in as many years. Last September the Saints and Erik McCoy agreed on a five-year, $60 million extension that made him the league’s sixth-highest paid center in average per year pay ($12 million). Now both interior linemen are signed through 2028.

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Jake Haener is paying a hefty price with his 6-week NFL suspension

Jake Haener is paying a hefty price with his 6-week NFL suspension. The Saints QB will forfeit a third of his rookie salary:

Jake Haener is learning an awfully expensive lesson about the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy. The New Orleans Saints backup quarterback was set to make $750,000 in base salary this season on his rookie contract — and he’ll forfeit a third of that while serving his six-week suspension to start the season for violating that PED policy.

That comes up to a bill of $250,000, so Haener is paying a hefty price. The young pro is going to have to learn to be more responsible moving forwards. The good news is that he won’t exactly go hungry; Haener received a $700,000 signing bonus earlier this year that won’t be subject to deductions. Still, he’s got to be more careful in the future.

He’ll be eligible to return to the team on Monday, Oct. 16 after their Week 6 road game with the Houston Texans. Haener wasn’t expected to play much this season (if at all) with Jameis Winston ahead of him on the depth chart behind Derek Carr, though Taysom Hill is also listed at quarterback.

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Report: Kareem Hunt seeking more than a minimum deal, may not make quick decision

NFL Network reports Kareem Hunt is seeking more than a veteran minimum deal, and may not make a quick decision during his Saints free agent visit:

Here’s an update on the New Orleans Saints’ Monday visit with free agent running back Kareem Hunt, with NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reporting that Hunt isn’t looking to settle for a veteran minimum contract. He’s coming off a two-year, $12 million deal with the Cleveland Browns and is hoping for an offer that exceeds the $1.08 million base salary he qualifies for as a sixth-year pro.

“Kareem Hunt has been biding his time waiting for the right opportunity, still wants to make a little bit of money so I don’t get the sense he’s gonna get a minimum deal,” Rapoport shared. “That visit starts tonight, may not get some news today on that. But New Orleans does have a bit of a need there.”

Rapoport added that the Saints already had a need for another running back after news broke of Alvin Kamara’s three-game suspension to start the season, only for that priority to rise higher once Kamara’s backup Eno Benjamin suffered a season-ending Achilles injury.

Hunt still shouldn’t break the bank, and the Saints have ample resources to allocate for him with about $12.9 million in salary cap space per Over The Cap records. If New Orleans can reach an agreement with the one-time NFL rushing leader, he would make a lot of sense in their backfield with Jamaal Williams and Kendre Miller.

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Here’s how much salary Alvin Kamara will lose while serving NFL suspension

Here’s how much salary Alvin Kamara will lose while serving his three-game NFL suspension. A spring restructure ended up saving him a lot of money:

As expected, the NFL issued a suspension to New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara that will sideline him for three games to open the 2023 season. That’s a relief for the team after the initial expectation was that Kamara would have to sit out six or more matchups. We’ve discussed which games Kamara will miss but how much is this going to hurt wallet?

After agreeing to restructure his contract earlier this year — reducing his base salary to the veteran minimum and having the difference paid out as a signing bonus — Kamara was due to receive $1,080,000 in weekly game checks over the course of the season. He’ll forfeit three of those while serving this suspension, which is a total of $180,000.

Had he not restructured his contract (which accomplished the larger goal of freeing up 2023 salary cap space for the team), Kamara would now be losing $1,560,000. So he both helped the team by agreeing to be paid in a different structure and secured his money knowing this NFL discipline was likely to be handed down.

Of course Kamara also had to pay legal fees in settling his criminal and civil court cases in Nevada and Louisiana, respectively, where he agreed to a confidential settlement out of court with the alleged victim. He’s probably also seen fewer sponsorship opportunities with this incident casting a pall on him. But as Kamara himself pointed out, he doesn’t want anyone’s pity or sympathy — he knows he made a terrible mistake and he still feels the embarrassment of it. That’s going to outweigh any dollar figures thrown around.

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The Athletic’s QB tiers rank Derek Carr 14th in the NFL

The Athletic’s Mike Sando surveyed 50 voters around the NFL, who ranked Saints QB Derek Carr 14th among his peers:

Every summer The Athletic’s Mike Sando speaks with dozens of talent evaluators around the NFL to assemble the best-informed ranking of pro quarterbacks possible, a group which Sando says “includes eight general managers, 10 head coaches, 15 coordinators, 10 executives, four quarterbacks coaches and three involved in coaching/analytics.”

So where does New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr rank among his peers? Organizing the passers into tiers, Carr was slotted firmly in Tier 3, a group Sando describes as “a legitimate starter but needs a heavier running game and/or defensive component to win. A lower-volume dropback passing offense suits him best.” Sando’s sources around the league put Carr at No. 14 overall.

That’s in line with his salary as the 12th-highest paid quarterback in the league, though he’ll take a step back in those rankings once Joe Burrow puts pen to paper with the Cincinnati Bengals. In last year’s version of this project, Carr clocked in at No. 12, while Jameis Winston ranked halfway down the list at No. 24. Andy Dalton wasn’t ranked at all.

It’s a fair evaluation of Carr, though the Saints are hoping he’ll outperform those expectations. If he can just be an upgrade over the quarterbacks they’ve fielded post-Drew Brees, this should be a playoff team. If he can elevate the talent around them and be a legitimate asset, their ceiling might be even higher.

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Highest-paid QBs after Justin Herbert extension: Where does Derek Carr rank?

Highest-paid quarterbacks after Justin Herbert extension: Where does Derek Carr rank?

Justin Herbert and the Los Angeles Chargers rocked the NFL world this week in announcing a new landmark contract extension valued at a record-breaking $52.5 million per year — but it won’t take long for young passers like Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow to surpass him.

For now, though, it’s worth taking a look at the rising salaries of franchise quarterbacks around the NFL to see where Derek Carr ranks. The New Orleans Saints’ deal with their new passer raised plenty of eyebrows earlier this year, but he ranks near the middle of the pack now that contracts for other quarterbacks have gotten hammered out:

All contract numbers can be found on overthecap.com

Here’s how much players will be fined for missing mandatory minicamp

The New Orleans Saints kick off their mandatory minicamp on Tuesday. Here’s how much players will be fined for not participating:

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The New Orleans Saints will gather for three days of mandatory minicamp practices this week, and we’re looking for six players to make their debut after they weren’t spotted in attendance at the team’s voluntary workouts earlier this spring. And the Saints should have everyone in the building. There are steep financial penalties for anyone who isn’t participating.

Per NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, missing one mandatory workout will cost a player $16,459. Skipping a second day of practice will cost $32,920. A third absence will cost them $49,374. All told, the fines amount to $98,753 for missing three days of work.

To put that in perspective, on average the players under contract with New Orleans have base salaries valued at about $830,000. Those are paid out in weekly installments throughout the 18-week regular season with an average value of $46,132.

So skipping these three mandatory practice sessions in June is worth more than two weeks of pay for the vast majority of the players on the team; only five of them are expected to receive base salary payments valued at more than $100,000 per week in the fall, including Carl Granderson ($210,000), James Hurst ($3,500,000) Bradley Roby ($166,667), Tre’Quan Smith ($150,000), and Cesar Ruiz ($129,943).

If you’re wondering why that is, it’s because the Saints have so many players on the veteran’s minimum, opting to pay out the bulk of their contracts through prorated signing bonuses instead. They can defer those costs over later years and create more immediate flexibility, even if it occasionally leads to dead money payouts when those players are no longer on the roster.

Hopefully everyone is in attendance when practice kicks off on Tuesday. Beyond protecting their wallets, the Saints need all hands on deck throughout the offseason to avoid another disappointing campaign like last year’s 7-10 finish.

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Contract talks around the NFL could spur Saints, Isaiah Foskey to action

Contract talks around the NFL could spur the Saints and Isaiah Foskey to action. More and more second-round draft picks are putting pens to paper:

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Just one New Orleans Saints draft pick hasn’t signed their rookie contract — second-round defensive end Isaiah Foskey, selected at No. 40 overall out of Notre Dame in the 2023 draft. So what’s the holdup?

There aren’t many factors to negotiate under modern collective bargaining agreements, but one thing players and teams can haggle over is contract guarantees. Because contract values are already established, players and agents have to work hard to look for wins. How those are structured and paid out is linked to draft slots, and Foskey sits right in the middle of an important fulcrum. We saw the same thing happen with Alontae Taylor last summer.

The first two years of second-round contracts are typically guaranteed, but that tapers off in the third year of those deals, and the fourth year isn’t guaranteed at all. Based off current trends, NFL contract expert Daniel Salib projects Foskey to get a fully-guaranteed third-year salary as the No. 40 pick, which is what he should be negotiating for with the Saints. But what context informs that prediction?

Derrick Hall, the Seattle Seahawks’ pick at No. 37, signed his rookie contract and received a fully-guaranteed third year salary as well as an unprecedented $100,000 in guarantees for the fourth year; that lines up with what the No. 35 pick got last year, meaning Foskey could push for a little lower than that. The Atlanta Falcons signed Matthew Bergeron, their No. 38 pick, just hours after Hall put pen to paper in Seattle. His guarantees structure is unclear just yet, but it’s reasonable to think it follows the trend Hall established.

And Foskey could be next. The No. 39 pick is Carolina Panthers wide receiver Jonathan Mingo, who has yet to sign his contract. It shouldn’t take long for these details to get ironed out, and then conversations shift to what really matters: the product on the field. How soon these rookies earn snaps and start to develop into pros is what will be on everyone’s minds, not how much money they’re making.

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Alabama’s 10 NFL draftees projected contracts exceed $129 million, half of that via signing bonus

Alabama’s 10 drafted players in 2023 are each set for massive pay days

Under the guidance of Nick Saban, Alabama football has been an NFL draft machine. Year in and year out they produce NFL-caliber players, and elite products at that. In the past 15 years, the Tide have had 123 players selected, with 44 being in the first round.

In 2023, the Tide continue to dominate by having the first offensive and defensive players selected in the draft with Bryce Young going No. 1 overall to the Carolina Panthers and Will Anderson going No. 3 overall to the Houston Texans. Young became the first ever Alabama player to be taken No. 1 overall in the NFL draft and as a result, his payday will be a sweet one.

Overall, the Tide had 10 players taken over the course of the three-day draft event with projected contracts exceeding a staggering $129 million and just about half of that money being guaranteed.

According to Charlie Potter of 247Sports, here are the salary expectations for the 10 Crimson Tide players that were drafted.