The Arizona Cardinals will have to pay three of their young defenders a little more than their contracts originally called for in 2022. Thanks to proven performance escalators, defensive lineman Zach Allen, cornerback Byron Murphy and safety Jalen Thompson all will get a nice raise in their fourth season in the NFL.
Murphy, a second-round pick in the 2019 draft, was scheduled to receive a salary of more than $1.58 million. Allen, a third-rounder in 2019, was due to make more than $1.1 million in salary, while Thompson, a supplemental fifth-round selection in 2019, was going to make the league minimum of $965,000.
Thanks to what is called a proven performance escalator, players drafted in the second round or later can get a fourth-year salary bump in three scenarios, based on playing time or making a Pro Bowl.
It prevents these draft picks from being penalized for being drafted.
An undrafted player becomes a restricted free agent after three years and, if tendered, makes more than $2.5 million in his fourth season. Someone drafted in the second round or later would be locked into a salary in Year 4, ranging from the league minimum to the more than $1.5 million that Murphy was scheduled to make.
There are three tiers of proven performance escalators.
For Tier 1, a second-round pick must play in 60% of the team’s offensive or defensive snaps in two of three seasons. After the second round, the average is 35% to reach that tier.
Allen and Thompson each reached Tier 1, according to Over the Cap. Allen played in only 12.9% of the Cardinals’ defensive snaps in 2019 but hit 45.4% and 63.0% in each of the last two seasons.
Thompson played in 53.2% of the defensive snaps as a rookie in 2019, but injuries in 2020 limited him to 20.9%. In 2021, he played 90.7% of the defensive snaps.
As a result, both will be paid the same as a low-level restricted free agent tender, which will be $2.54 million in 2022. Both more than double their expected salary.
Murphy hit Tier 2, which is playing at least 55% of the team’s offensive or defensive snaps in all three seasons. He played in 97.6%, 71.6% and 88.9% of the Cardinals’ defensive snaps in his first three seasons.
Tier 2 players get $250,000 more than Tier 1 players, so he will make $2.79 million in 2022, an increase of more than $1.2 million over his originally scheduled salary.
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