Found this on the net...
http://www.bloggingtheboys.com/2012/...-they-get-paid
Once a rookie free agent signs a contract, he usually receives a small bonus. These bonuses are mostly in the $3,000 to $5,000 range, but if a particular free agent is heavily sought after by a number of NFL teams, that bonus may go up as far as $20,000. Per the new CBA, only a maximum of about $75,000 per team may be paid to undrafted rookies as signing bonus or amounts treated as signing bonus. That figure will increase or decrease each year in line with the percentage change of the total Rookie Compensation Pool.
Signing bonuses, as the name implies, are paid out immediately after the contract is signed. After that, the UDFAs have to make do with "per diem expenses".
Off-Season Workouts and Minicamps:
All players attending an off-season workout or minicamp, like the rookie minicamp starting today, get a per diem of $155 per day. All this is provided as per the NFLPA contract and is the standard procedure that's designed partly to provide the players some remuneration, and partly to avoid teams outbidding each other for rookie free agents.
NFL CBA, Article 21, Section 3: "Each player shall receive at least the following amounts per day for any workouts or classroom instruction in which he participates pursuant to a Club’s voluntary offseason workout program, provided the player fulfills the Club’s reasonable offseason workout requirements: $155 (2011–12 League Years)."
Additionally, all players receive room and board during these activities.
Training Camp
Once training camp starts, all rookies (drafted and undrafted) get per diem payments at the rate of $850 a week, which isn't that bad considering that housing and meals are provided by the Cowboys. Veterans get slightly more at $1,600 a week. These payments end one week before the regular season opener, and base salaries then commence in 17 installments over the course of the regular season.
NFL CBA, Article 23:
Rookie Per Diem: "A first-year player will receive “per diem” payments, commencing with the first day of Preseason Training Camp and ending one week prior to the Club’s first regular season game, at the following weekly rates for the respective League Years: $850 (2011–12 League Years)."
Veteran Per Diem: "A veteran player will receive “per diem” payments, commencing with the first day of Preseason Training Camp and ending one week prior to the Club’s first regular season game, at the following weekly rates for the respective League Years: $1,600 (2011–12 League Years)."
Making the roster
If they make the 53 man roster, the UDFAs get the rookie minimum of $390,000 or 1/17th of that as a check every week, as long as they keep their roster spot. Additionally, they may get a small ('small' relative to the base salary) signing bonus, but this will be lower than the bonuses received by the drafted players.
If they get signed to a spot on the 8-man practice squad, they are paid a minimum salary of $5,700 per week, or $96,900 over the full regular season if they keep their spot on the practice squad. If a team makes the playoffs, these payments continue for as long as the team is in the playoffs.
To protect their players from other teams, or because they really like the potential of a given player, some teams pay their roster squad players significantly more. Last season for example, the Patriots paid DE Markell Carter apractice squad salary of $306,000, more than three times the minimum.
The upside of the practice squad is that if a player is called up to the 53-man regular roster, either by his own team or by another team, he automatically signs a contract with the $390,000 minimum salary. Also, three weeks of that contract are guaranteed (3/17th of $390,000 = $68,800), even if that player is released, waived or traded before the three weeks are up.
Originally Posted by DD Dawg
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