About NFL Salaries

USA TODAY's football salaries database contains year-by-year listings of salaries for National Football League players, from the 2000 season through the current season. The data are based on USA TODAY research, information from player agents and NFL Players Association research documents. For each player, the database shows his base salary, signing bonus, other bonuses and cap value. The base salary is the value according to his contract; however, contracts are not guaranteed and he may not have received the entire amount. The column labeled "salary" is the amount he received in base salary and bonuses combined.

Starting with the 2001 season, signing bonuses are listed in entirety only for the year the contract was signed. In prior years, the bonus is pro-rated over the life of the contract. As a result, a player's total salary can fluctuate extensively from one year to the next. The cap value represents the player's pro-rated signing bonus, plus salary and other bonuses for the season. Total team payrolls can also fluctuate significantly from year to year, depending on how a team accounts for its players€™ base salaries, bonuses, etc. Salaries are not necessarily obtained at the same time in the season each year.

The following changes were implemented in 2009:

• The data are based on contracts filed through Oct. 25, 2009, collected from NFLPA documents obtained by USA TODAY from multiple player agents Some contracts not completed before that date (including an extension for Dallas Cowboys linebacker DeMarcus Ware) are not reflected in the data, nor are deals completed after that date. Some players cut from rosters before Nov. 25, 2009, were deleted from team rosters.
• Option bonuses are accounted for in the year that they were earned. In some cases, portions of actual payments for option bonuses are deferred to later years. For purposes of this report, deferred payments on option bonuses -- and any other forms of deferred payments, such as salary, signing bonuses or other bonuses -- are not carried forward to subsequent years. Option bonuses are included under "Other Bonus" along with roster, workout and similar bonuses. (Prior to 2009, option bonuses were not counted.)
• The "total salary" is for compensation that was earned in 2009 as salary and all forms of bonuses, but does not account for deferred payments.
• Prior to 2009, all players were listed provided they met the league minimum (about $285,000 in 2007). Sometimes a base salary was listed as $0 because the actual base salary was rolled into a bonus. For 2009 and later, only players listed on the roster on a given date (see above) are included.