Every first-round signing bonus from the 2026 NFL Draft

The NFL Draft is so critical not just because it gives teams an opportunity to add impact talent, but because it gives teams an opportunity to add cost-controlled impact talent. Take the Las Vegas Raiders, for example, who took QB Fernando Mendoza No. 1 overall on Thursday night. Mendoza is in line for a four-year, $57.3 million contract with an AAV of less than $15 million — a number that would place him around 20th in the league at the position. If he becomes even an above-average starter, that’s a huge bargain.

How much will your team’s first-round pick be making over the course of his first contract? Here’s everything to know about rookie salaries in the 2026 draft, and why rookie pay just keeps on going up.

Why signing bonuses jumped 18.5 percent in 2026

After Sam Bradford managed to negotiate a six-year, $78 million deal after being taken with the first overall pick back in 2010, NFL teams decided it was time to curb spending on rookie contracts. So, in the next collective bargaining agreement, they created a formula that tied each draft slot to a specific portion of the total salary cap — instead of rookies being able negotiate while holding all the leverage, there’s now very little mystery about what each drafted player will make over his first pro deal.

Back in 2021, when depressed revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic led to a rare decrease in the salary cap, the NFL and the NFLPA reached an agreement to essentially borrow money against future rookie compensation pools in order to make sure that the 2021 draft class wasn’t disproportionately impacted. As football, and its income stream, returned to normal, the salary cap leapt — and took rookie salaries with it.

What the No. 1 pick will earn compared to recent years

Mendoza’s $57.3 million deal is well beyond the $48.8 million Cam Ward got last year from the Tennessee Titans, and overall, rookie signing bonuses are up 18.5 percent this year, according to a report from Sportico. That’s on top of a 26-percent jump between 2024 and 2025.

Between the NFL’s seemingly never-ending ability to find more ways to make money and players being compensated for the haircut they took during the pandemic, rookie salaries are growing hand over fist. The 2024 No. 1 pick, Caleb Williams, signed with the Bears for just under $40 million total, and prior to that the rookie wage scale had remained relatively flat, with a minimal increase from Kyler Murray in 2019 through Bryce Young in 2023.

That’s a very big jump, and as the salary cap shows no signs of slowing down any time soon, you can expect the trend to continue in 2027 and beyond.

2026 NFL Draft signing bonuses for every first-round pick

But what about all the first-round picks who came after Mendoza? Again, each draft pick comes with an assigned salary slot, so you know almost exactly how much a given pick will make over the course of his contract — regardless of what position he plays. So the Arizona Cardinals will be paying running back Jeremiyah Love more than $50 million total, a number that would be a value for an elite quarterback or edge rusher but is already at the top of the market at his position.

Which is just one more factor that goes into which player a team eventually decides to draft. You’re not just picking the player — you’re picking his salary, and just how much of a bargain that salary becomes depends on both his production and the position that production comes at. The full first-round salary table is below; first-round picks this year are projected to sign a combined $900 million or so worth of contracts, including $542 million in signing bonuses.