NFL players don’t wait until Week 1 to start seeing money, but the paycheck during training camp is a lot smaller than what comes later.
The weekly rate is $2,000 for first-year players and $3,500 for veterans. Under the CBA, teams also have to cover housing and meals for everyone in camp. For players who haven’t already settled in their team’s city, that housing runs through the Tuesday before the club’s first regular-season game.
That setup can mean very different things depending on who’s in camp. For an undrafted rookie free agent like tackle Aamil Wagner, who got $20,000 to sign out of Notre Dame and is a long shot to make the team, the $2,000 a week can matter a lot. For Jeffery Simmons, who recently signed a three-year contract extension that includes $100 million in guarantees, the camp money is a tiny slice of what’s coming his way.
Some coaches give veterans the option to stay home, but Robert Saleh’s first camp with the Titans will be different. He’ll have all the players in a local hotel for camp.
Former Titans seventh-round pick Marc Mariani, who came out of Wyoming in 2010 and became a Pro Bowl return man as a rookie, said the money barely registered back then.
"It’s been so long I can barely remember, but honestly it had to be so minimal that I don’t think it moved the needle," he said of his weekly money during camp. "We lived in the hotel and ate every meal at the facility, so I don’t know that we needed much.
"Sixteen years ago, it had to be $500 or less. I was definitely a guy who just lived in the facility and hotel and got all the free stuff I could."
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