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Fans often complain about overpaid players. But the highest paid coaches in the NFL make bank too.
College football coaches are generally the highest-paid public employees in their home states, but pro coaches dwarf earnings of even FBS coaches.
Though the highest-paid coaches tend to be the best at what they do, there are those who have struggled in recent years and still gone home with a tidy pay packet.
With NFL season in full swing, anyone with an interest in NFL betting will know some teams are underachieving. Given this, some names on this list might surprise you, but these are the highest-paid NFL coaches in 2024.
Andy Reid, Kansas City Chiefs: $20 Million
To the victor goes the spoils. Andy Reid’s salary is the biggest in pro football.
Reid has qualified for the playoffs 19 times in his career, including reaching the NFL’s final four 11 times and qualifying for the Super Bowl five times. He’s won it three times as head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.
They’re favorites with all the best online sportsbooks to lift the Vince Lombardi trophy again this season, thus Reid’s salary is huge.
He signed a five-year, $100 million deal after he and the Chiefs won their second straight Super Bowl in February 2024.
It’s hard to believe Reid was labeled a choker during his time as the Philadelphia Eagles head coach.
He is about 60 wins behind Don Shula for most wins in NFL history and if he and Patrick Mahomes maintain the Chiefs’ dominance he will take top spot from the legendary Dolphins and Colts coach.
Sean Payton, Denver Broncos: $18 Million
Sean Payton was the richest NFL coach before Reid signed his new contract extension, and he might feel grateful for Reid’s extension, since it takes some of the spotlight off Payton’s struggles in Denver.
Denver brought in the Super Bowl XLIV-winning coach before the 2023 season in the hopes Payton and fellow Super Bowl-winner, quarterback Russell Wilson, would bring the Broncos back to prominence.
Payton is in the second year of his five-year contract but has a sub-.500 record and the Broncos Super Bowl odds are out at +30000. You don’t need to know much about how to bet on the NFL to see that things are going in the wrong direction.
Payton is trying to clean up a rotting culture and rebuild with rookie quarterback Bo Nix.
Being in the same division as Reid and the current Chargers coach (see below) while also having an inferior roster won’t do Payton any favors. Still, his contract is fully guaranteed.
Jim Harbaugh, Los Angeles Chargers: $16 Million
Harbaugh parlayed his success at the University of Michigan into arguably the best-available role of the 2023 offseason.
The Chargers ponied up serious dough to bring in the quarterback-turned-coaching icon who has one of the highest win percentages in NFL history.
Harbaugh only missed the playoffs once in his four seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and has appeared to transform the Chargers instantly.
Though he has reached the NFL’s final four three times, and coached against his brother John’s Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XLVII, Jim has not yet hoisted the Lombardi Trophy, though neither have the Chargers.
Harbaugh’s track record with under performing teams is strong. He exorcized the demons at Michigan, which hadn’t won a national championship in 27 years before he guided them to a 15-0 record in 2023.
He looks capable of doing the same for the Chargers.
Sean McVay, Los Angeles Rams: $15 Million
The wunderkind took over the ultra-mediocre Rams in 2017 and turned them into a juggernaut.
Since then, he has won the NFC twice and took home LA’s first pro-football championship in four decades with its 23-20 win over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.
McVay has long been wanted as a broadcaster by a number of networks, but he’s locked in with the Rams until at least the 2026 NFL season.
After the Rams loaded up as a super team to win the Super Bowl at SoFi Stadium, McVay has arguably been at his best since then with LA qualifying for the playoffs in 2023 with a much weaker roster.
Kyle Shanahan, San Francisco 49ers: $14 Million
Shanahan seems destined to be a great coach but coach unable to win the big one.
Yet he somehow always has a team that’s in the mix to the end. The 49ers coach has twice lost the Super Bowl to Reid and the Chiefs, and he also lost the big game as Atlanta’s offensive coordinator in Super Bowl LI despite holding a 28-3 lead.
Still, Shanahan has coached the 49ers to the final four four times in his six seasons and those two Super Bowl appearances. Plus, he unearthed Brock Purdy, who has gone from Mr. Irrelevant to a top quarterback in the NFL.
All that earned him a six-year contract, which is set to expire after the 2025 season.
He gets paid a base salary of $10 million per year, but with bonuses thanks to consecutive NFC Championship Game appearances and a Super Bowl appearance in 2024, he is earning the fifth-most money of any coach.
Mike Tomlin, Pittsburgh Steelers: $12.5 Million
Speaking of underpaid coaches, Tomlin somehow continues to keep the Steelers among the league’s contenders despite their struggle to put elite offensive talent on the roster.
Tomlin has still never had a sub-.500 season in the NFL, while he also pushes two decades at the helm of arguably the most successful organization in the league’s 100-plus-year history.
He coached Pittsburgh to its then-record sixth Super Bowl with a 27-23 win over the Arizona Cardinals in early 2009.
Tomlin’s consistent success earned him a three-year contract in 2024 that bumped his pay to $12.5 million annually. If he keeps at it, which he has so far in 2024, he’ll keep climbing this list.
John Harbaugh, Baltimore Ravens: $12 Million
Which Harbaugh picks up the check when the brothers go out to dinner? It’s a reasonable question given the fact each appears on this list.
John Harbaugh has evolved from elite special teams coach to exceptional head coach, with a Tomlin-like .615 career win percentage and only two losing seasons to his name.
Harbaugh won in his lone Super Bowl against his brother’s 49ers more than a decade ago, yet the Ravens are still continuously knocking on the door of the Super Bowl with all-everything QB Lamar Jackson.
Thus, Harbaugh signed a multi-year contract extension in 2022 that bumped his salary into 10 figures annually, and he rewarded his bosses by earning the AFC No. 1 seed in 2023. We’ll see if he can get his team back to the promised land before this deal expires.
Sean McDermott, Buffalo Bills: $8.5 Million
McDermott may struggle when the lights get brighter, but he is one of the most successful coaches in Bills history, which in turn, makes him the highest-paid coach in franchise history.
McDermott received an additional two years on his initial six-year contract in 2023, thanks to the way he has guided Buffalo to the playoffs in five of his six seasons – and looks poised to reach the postseason again in 2024.
The Bills’ and McDermott’s final hurdle is to get to the Super Bowl – and potentially win the big game for Buffalo, which it has never done.
At odds of +800 they could be the smart play for those looking to bet on the Super Bowl early.
It feels like a matter of time until McDermott and quarterback Josh Allen get over the hump. Could this be the year?
Doug Pederson, Jacksonville Jaguars: $8 Million
Don’t look, Jags fans. Pederson came to Jacksonville with a Super Bowl pedigree, then he and quarterback Trevor Lawrence won the AFC South and a playoff game in his first season as Jaguars coach in 2022.
But it’s all been downhill from there. Jacksonville struggled to 9-8 in 2023 and has lost its first three games of 2024.
This despite making Lawrence one of the highest paid players in the NFL during the summer.
Although Pederson is well paid enough to feature on this list, he may be looking for new work if he and the Jags don’t turn things around soon.
Nick Sirianni, Philadelphia Eagles: $7 Million
Sirianni appeared ready to revolutionize the NFL in his second season with the Eagles, 2022, by guiding them to the Super Bowl before falling to Reid and the Chiefs.
Even though Eagles fans lost their patience with their head coach after the team’s tough finish to the 2023 season, Sirianni has been to the postseason in every season as Eagles coach and is again in the Super Bowl conversation in 2024.
The 2024 season is big for Sirianni since he’ll probably earn a contract extension if the Eagles meet expectations, which they have thus far.
Lowest-Paid NFL Head Coach
Jonathan Gannon, Arizona Cardinals: $1 Million
There is some dispute about Gannon’s contract, and it’s possible that Raiders coach Antonio Pierce actually makes less since the Raiders do not disclose contract details.
But Gannon is officially the lowest-paid NFL head coach, with a reported base salary of $1 million. With incentives that could rise to $5 million.
Gannon was reportedly offered more to remain defensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles after the 2022 season but could not turn down the chance to be an NFL head coach.
Gannon and the Cardinals have looked capable of earning their second-year coach those incentives with a healthy Kyler Murray back in the fold.
