Here's how much money No. 1 pick Caleb Williams and the other top 2024 NFL draft picks will earn on their rookie contracts

By Weston Blasi

Dropping a few spots can cost players millions. In 2023, Kentucky quarterback prospect Will Levis was selected much later than expected, and lost out on tens of millions of dollars.

A group of 32 football players joined the NFL on Thursday during the league's 2024 draft.

Former University of Southern California star quarterback Caleb Williams, was chosen by the Chicago Bears with the No. 1 overall selection in the draft, and two other quarterbacks (LSU's Jayden Daniels and North Carolina's Drake Maye) followed.

The 2024 NFL Draft was just the fourth time in history that the first three picks had been quarterbacks. And the Bears fanbase was quick to snatch up merchandise for their new franchise quarterback.

The order a player is selected isn't just important for bragging rights, it's vitally important in determining how much money he will earn on his rookie contract.

That's because of the NFL's rookie wage scale, which assigns dollar amounts to specific draft slots. The higher a player is drafted, the more lucrative his overall contract and signing bonus are.

Therefore, dropping a few spots during the draft can cost players millions of dollars on their rookie contracts. Last year, for example, Kentucky quarterback prospect Will Levis was one of the odds-on favorites to be selected No. 2 overall, a draft slot where he would have made $36.2 million on his four-year rookie contract. But on draft night, Levis fell to the second round (No. 33 overall), where his rookie contract was worth "only" $9.5 million.

See also: Why the NFL draft is one of the only sports events where bettors often beat sportsbooks

Each player selected in the first round will get a four-year contract, with a fifth-year club option, plus a signing bonus. The base salary and signing bonus are fully guaranteed, while other aspects of the contract such as roster bonuses are not.

Here are the estimated contracts and signing bonuses for the first round selections of the 2024 NFL draft, according to contract monitoring site Spotrac.

No. 1: Chicago Bears, Caleb Williams

$38.54 million total, $24.8 million signing bonus

No. 2: Washington Commanders, Jayden Daniels

$36.85 million total, $23.6 million signing bonus

No. 3: New England Patriots, Drake Maye

$35.77 million total, $22.8 million signing bonus

No. 4: Arizona Cardinals, Marvin Harrison Jr.

$34.54 million total, $21.9 million signing bonus

No. 5: Los Angeles Chargers, Joe Alt

$32.39 million total, $20.3 million signing bonus

No. 6: New York Giants, Malik Nabers

$28.54 million total, $17.5 million signing bonus

No. 7: Tennessee Titans, JC Latham

$25.46 million total, $15.3 million signing bonus

No. 8: Atlanta Falcons, Michael Penix Jr.

$22.38 million total, $13 million signing bonus

No. 9: Chicago Bears, Rome Odunze

$22.23 million total, $12.9 million signing bonus

No. 10: Minnesota Vikings, J.J. McCarthy

$21.38 million total, $12.3 million signing bonus

No. 11: New York Jets, Olumuyiwa Fashanu

$20.08 million total, $11.4 million signing bonus

No. 12: Denver Broncos, Bo Nix

$18.23 million total, $10 million signing bonus

No. 13: Las Vegas Raiders, Brock Bowers

$17.77 million total, $9.7 million signing bonus

No. 14: New Orleans Saints, Taliese Fuaga

$17 million total, $9.1 million signing bonus

No. 15: Indianapolis Colts, Laiatu Latu

$16.69 million total, $8.9 million signing bonus

No. 16: Seattle Seahawks, Byron Murphy II

$15.77 million total, $8.2 million signing bonus

No. 17: Minnesota Vikings, Dallas Turner

$15.46 million total, $8 million signing bonus

No. 18: Cincinnati Bengals, Amarius Mims

$15.08 million total, $7.7 million signing bonus

No. 19: Los Angeles Rams, Jared Verse

$14.84 million total, $7.6 million signing bonus

No. 20: Pittsburgh Steelers, Troy Fautanu

$14.77 million total, $7.5 million signing bonus

No. 21: Miami Dolphins, Chop Robinson

$14.69 million total, $7.5 million signing bonus

No. 22: Philadelphia Eagles, Quinyon Mitchell

$14.54 million total, $7.3 million signing bonus

No. 23: Jacksonville Jaguars, Brian Thomas Jr.

$14.38 million total, $7.2 million signing bonus

No. 24: Detroit Lions, Terrion Arnold

$14.08 million total, $7 million signing bonus

No. 25: Green Bay Packers, Jordan Morgan

$14 million total, $6.9 million signing bonus

No. 26: Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Graham Barton

$13.77 million total, $6.8 million signing bonus

No. 27: Arizona Cardinals, Darius Robinson

$13.61 million total, $6.7 million signing bonus

No. 28: Kansas City Chiefs, Xavier Worthy

$13.54 million total, $6.6 million signing bonus

No. 29: Dallas Cowboys, Tyler Guyton

$12.92 million total, $6.2 million signing bonus

No. 30: Baltimore Ravens, Nate Wiggins

$12.59 million total, $5.9 million signing bonus

No. 31: San Francisco 49ers, Ricky Pearsall

$12.32 million total, $5.7 million signing bonus

No. 32: Carolina Panthers, Xavier Legette

$12.14 million total, $5.6 million signing bonus

Rounds two to seven of the NFL draft will continue over the weekend and will air on ESPN, ABC (DIS) and the NFL Network.

Read on: How DraftKings figured out NBA player Jontay Porter was betting on games

-Weston Blasi

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04-26-24 1028ET

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