Becoming an NFL coach is not an easy job whatsoever, but once you make it to the league, the world can literally become your oyster, at least from a salary perspective. Given the level of stress and demands that go into building not just a successful football team, but one that can be considered a favorite Super Bowl betting odds darling every season, the salary that comes along with a job like being a head coach in the NFL is a very generous one to say the least.
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But which NFL coaches hold the luxury of having the highest salaries in the NFL? Let’s take a look.
- Bill Belichick, New England Patriots
When we talk about the New England Patriots and especially about their head coach for the last 22 years, Bill Belichick, it’s not that farfetched to say that we speak of football royalty in a way. Ever since he took on the job as the coach for the Patriots in the start of the millennium, Belichick has gone on to become one of the most important and bonafide legendary coaches in the league with six Super Bowl wins and the record for most wins ever by a coach in the playoffs.
This is why, it’s no wonder his salary is of a whopping $12,5 million dollars a year, making him the best paid coach in the league. Given his status as one of the best coaches to ever grace the league and the fact that even after losing Tom Brady to the Bucs a couple of years ago he has still managed to make the Patriots a playoff contending team, it almost feels as if his $12,5 million price tag might be a tad low.
- Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks
Even before taking the job as head coach for the Seattle Seahawks, Pete Carroll was already one of the best coaches in the world of football, especially from his days as head coach of the USC Trojans. But after joining Seattle in 2010, everything definitely went up hill for Carroll. In the eleven years he’s been the head coach for the Seahawks, Carroll has managed to take the team to the playoffs in nine out of those eleven years, but not just that.
Carroll has also won a Super Bowl with the team, led by QB Russell Wilson, who is considered one of the best in the game to this day and a defensive unit, named the “Legion of Boom” who terrorized opposing offenses left and right. His salary right now stands at $11 million and with his contract extending until 2025, it looks like the future will continue to shine bright for Carroll.
- Sean Payton, New Orleans Saints
The second longest tenured coach after Bill Belichick in the league right now is New Orleans’ Sean Payton. Now, with that said, the effect that Sean Payton has had on the city of New Orleans and on the Saints has been one that some people could argue, money can’t buy. Ever since taking charge of the team in 2006, Payton turned this team around completely, taking them from being a perennial bottom-feeding squad, to a Super Bowl winning team in 2010 alongside QB legend Drew Brees and also making them one of the most solid franchises in all of the NFL.
At $9.8 million a year, his salary is more than justified, especially again when you take into account the effect that Payton has had in rebuilding not just a football team, but a fan base that has been through thick and thin with their Saints and has never stopped cheering them on.
- John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens
When you talk about the Harbaugh brothers in pro football, you’re talking about two of the most successful coaches in recent history. All of this came to fruition in Super Bowl LXVII in early 2013, when John and his Baltimore Ravens beat Jim Harbaugh and his San Francisco 49ers for the NFL title in what ended up being Ravens’ legend Ray Lewis’ last game in his illustrious Hall Of Fame career.
Now, while brother Jim is doing his thing as coach of the Michigan Wolverines in the NCAA, John has continued to build one of the best franchises in the AFC alongside QB sensation Lamar Jackson. With Harbaugh’s salary at $9 million and without any signs of him stepping down from his tenure with Baltimore, it’s easy to see why Harbaugh is considered one of the most respected coaches in the league.
- Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams
Considered by many as one of the best and most forward-thinking minds in the ranks of NFL coaches, Sean McVay, head coach of the Los Angeles Rams makes our list with a salary of a cool $8,5 million a year. Ever since joining the league at the age of 30 years old in 2017, McVay has managed to make the Rams into one of the most exciting and dominating football teams in the land, already having made it to one Super Bowl, where they lost to Brady and Belichick’s Patriots. It is also worth noticing that his Rams team has not had a losing season ever since McVay joined, making him one of the most win-prone coaches in the league as well.
