The NFL playoffs kick off Saturday after a 2025 regular season in which seven of eight divisions crowned new winners—the Philadelphia Eagles, reigning Super Bowl champions, were the lone repeat victors. The 14 playoff teams are competing for a spot in February’s Super Bowl 60, as well as some extra cash, with each player on the Super Bowl winner set to earn up to $376,000.
The NFL collective bargaining agreement dictates the postseason pay schedule through the end of the CBA in 2030. Players make $53,500 to $58,500 during the opening week of this year’s playoffs, with division winners not on a bye slotted for the higher amount. Players on the wild-card teams and the clubs that secured a bye—Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks—earn $53,500 per player.
It is a big paycheck for the average U.S. citizen, but it barely tops the weekly pay of $46,667 for an NFL rookie with a minimum salary of $840,000, such as Seahawks star safety Nick Emmanwori, who also got $5.1 million signing bonus as a second-round pick. A pair of Chicago Bears, DE Montez Sweat and WR DJ Moore, have the highest base salaries of anyone in the playoffs at $20.9 million and $20.65 million, respectively, which equates to roughly $1.15 million per week over the 18-week NFL season.
More than 50 players earned at least $25 million via salaries in 2025, including signing and option bonuses. Justin Herbert ($60 million), Josh Allen ($58 million), Tua Tagovailoa ($51 million) and Patrick Mahomes ($50 million) led the way.
The divisional round is worth $58,500 per player for those teams that make the second weekend of the NFL playoffs. The payouts jump to $81,000 for the conference championship games. The Super Bowl pays $178,000 for each player on the winning team and $103,000 for the loser; both figures are up $7,000 from last year. The maximum a player could make during the playoffs is $376,000, up $19,000 from the $357,000 Philadelphia Eagles players made for their Super Bowl run.
The NFL’s postseason pool is funded by playoff gate revenue. Most NFL playoff ticket revenue flows to the league office outside of a stipend for expenses, which makes a trip to the playoffs much less lucrative for NFL teams than ones in the NBA, NHL and MLB.
On a per-player basis. NFL postseason pay ranks ahead of the NHL but trails MLB and NBA. In the NHL, the playoff pool was $23 million last year, and roughly $250,000 per player went to the champion Florida Panthers. The 2025 MLB postseason pool was $128.2 million, a tick below the previous year’s record. The World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers split $46.15 million of the pool, with a full share worth $484,748. NBA playoff teams received $34.7 million last year, with each Oklahoma City Thunder player making $828,000 for winning the title.
The Seahawks (+330) have the best odds to win the Super Bowl, followed by the Los Angeles Rams (+425) and Broncos (+650). Five teams made the playoffs that have never won the Super Bowl, with the Buffalo Bills (+1000) the best bet among the group to raise the Lombardi Trophy.