The last three seasons earned Green Bay Packers receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling a nice pay bump for the fourth and final season of his rookie contract.
Valdes-Scantling, a fifth-round pick in 2018, hit the requirements of the league’s “proven performance escalator,” which will raise his base salary to $2,183,000 in 2021.
Under the NFL’s new CBA, the escalator is now available to all players drafted outside of the first round. The base salary raise provides earning opportunities for players who miss out on the financial rewards of being a first-round pick but still end up playing vital roles during their rookie contract.
Valdes-Scantling earned the first level of escalator, upping his base salary in 2021 by $1,263,000.
Any player drafted in the third round or later can earn the escalator by playing at least 35 percent of his team’s offensive or defensive snaps during at least two of his first three NFL seasons or by playing at least 35 percent of the total offensive or defensive snaps over the entire three-year period. Valdes-Scantling, a fifth-round pick in 2018, played over 35 percent of the Packers’ offensive snaps during each of the last three seasons and averaged nearly 65 percent of the total offensive snaps overall.
Over the Cap has a full list of players earning the escalators from the 2018 draft. Valdes-Scantling was the only Packers player to earn the escalator.
While Valdes-Scantling got a well-deserved bump in pay, the escalator did raise his cap hit in 2021 by almost $1.3 million.
Last season, running backs Aaron Jones and Jamaal Williams both earned the escalator.
Of the Packers’ draft picks in 2019, only offensive lineman Elgton Jenkins is currently eligible to earn the proven performance escalator for 2022.
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