Andy Reid racked up 207 wins on the sidelines for the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs during his first two decades as an NFL head coach, but was criticized as someone who “couldn’t win the big game” due to his 1-6 record in conference championships and Super Bowls.
Those days are over.
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Big Red has won three of the past five Super Bowls with Patrick Mahomes, his co-star in State Farm ads, at center. Reid scored another win this spring with a five-year contract extension worth about $100 million. The deal made him the highest-paid coach in the NFL and across all North American sports leagues.
Reid is the only NFL coach to win 100 games with two franchises, and he has made the playoffs 19 times in 25 seasons. He is one of five coaches to win at least three Super Bowls, and his 289 career wins, including postseason, are fourth all-time.
NFL coaches are making more money than ever, and wins on the field are a straight line to higher payouts. Rounding out the top five by average annual value (AAV) are Sean Payton ($18 million), Mike Tomlin ($16 million), Jim Harbaugh ($16 million) and Sean McVay ($15 million). Payton, Tomlin and McVay also coached Super Bowl winners, and Harbaugh signed a five-year contract with the Los Angeles Chargers after his national championship at Michigan last season. Harbaugh, who also coached the San Francisco 49ers for four years, has the highest career win percentage of any current NFL coach.
Sportico identified 10 current NFL coaches who currently earn at least $9 million per year, based on conversations with half a dozen people familiar with NFL coaching contracts. The earnings figures are base salary before any incentives and are the AAV of recent extensions for Tomlin and Dan Campbell, who boosted the Detroit Lions fanbase and turned an NFC title game appearance into a new $11 million per year pact.
Reid replaced Bill Belichick at the top of the NFL payrolls. The former Patriots boss is the only coach ever to earn more on an annual basis. Belichick was making an estimated $25 million per year before parting ways with New England after the 2023 season.
Belichick and colleague Pete Carroll, who earned $15 million a year, were fixtures on the NFL sidelines for decades with a combined 47 seasons as head coaches before both were shown the door in January. Reid, 66, is now the NFL’s oldest head coach.
Teams are increasingly turning to younger coaches to guide their teams, with 17 head coaches age 45 or younger entering the 2024 season, including new signings Mike Macdonald (37), Jerod Mayo (38), Brian Callahan (40), Dave Canales (43). ) and Antonio Pierce (45), who had his interim tag removed. Last year’s new coaching class included Shane Steichen (now 39), DeMeco Ryans (40) and Jonathan Gannon (41). McVay is in his eighth season and at 38 years old is still the third youngest coach.
Young coaches getting their first jobs often come with a lower price tag, but not always. Macdonald and Ryans were in high demand and struck deals more in line with coaches signing their second contracts. Macdonald’s deal with the Seattle Seahawks is worth $9 million per year, while Ryans got a six-year contract with an AAV of $8 million.
Head coach salaries are up, but salaries are still a fraction of what stars make. Dak Prescott is the NFL’s top earner at $60 million, according to AAV, and 75 players will make at least $20 million this season, per Spotrac. Macdonald’s $9 million per year deal is matched or exceeded by 255 players.
The NFL is the richest sports league in the world, with revenues of more than $20 billion, an average team worth $5.93 billion and an operating profit of $143 million per club, according to NFL figures. Sportico‘s calculations. But owners show little patience for the faces of their franchises as losses pile up on the field. There have only been 12 coaches in their current positions for three full seasons and only three coaches for at least eight years after the departures of Belichick and Carroll.
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