When we think of yow NFL, names like that of Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson or Dallas Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott often come to mind — household names with multi-million-dollar contracts and lucrative endorsements with sportswear companies and other brands. Though Wilson and Elliott are among a handful of other NFL players with lucrative deals, their multi-million dollar contracts do not reflect the earnings of many of their peers. In fact, for every high earner in the NFL, there are hundreds of other players making the league minimum, which is, of course, far more than the average worker. That minimum increases for each year a player spends in the NFL. That’s great news for those lucky enough to last that long in the NFL, but many won’t ring in a seventh year on the job. The average career length is less than three years, meaning most players never advance beyond the lower rungs of that payment ladder. But even that average salary is probably too high ...