14.1 - A player's initial salary is determined by the manner in which the player was acquired. Players acquired through the Free Agent draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
Round 1: $10 million Rounds 2-3: $7.5 million Rounds 4-6: $5 million Rounds 7-9: $4 million Rounds 10-12: $3 million Rounds 13-17: $2 million Rounds 18-22: $1 million Rounds 23-27: $500K Rounds 28-32: $300K Rounds 33-50: $100K
14.2 - Players acquired through the rookie draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
14.1 - A player's initial salary is determined by the manner in which the player was acquired. Players acquired through the Free Agent draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
Round 1: $10 million Rounds 2-3: $7.5 million Rounds 4-5: $6 million Rounds 6-8: $5 million Rounds 9-11: $4 million Rounds 12-14: $3 million Rounds 15-19: $2 million Rounds 20-26: $1 million Rounds 27-33: $500K Rounds 34-48: $300K
14.2 - Players acquired through the rookie draft are assigned an option year salary as follows:
The league minimum salary is raised to $300k, which impacts both Free Agent and Rookie pay scales. An additional two $6 million dollar rounds are inserted into the Free Agent draft. The $1 million and $500k rounds are increased to seven each in the Free Agent draft. Rookie picks from rounds four to seven are all worth the league minimum $300k.
Retaining the current off-season $83 million salary cap while increasing the league minimum salary would mean less money available for higher priced players. The inclusion of the two $6 million dollar rounds creates an interesting choice for owners who would traditionally wait until the $5 million dollar round to select a player. Raising the league minimum salary raises the floor on team wages.
This rule would be implemented in 2017. 2016 Free Agent and Rookie player contracts of less than $300k would be grandfathered into the new salary structure.