NFL Players around the league will split almost $147.952 million in “Performance-Based Pay” for their performance during the 2019 season, the NFL announced on Thursday.
The Performance-Based Pay program is a collectively bargained benefit that compensates all players, including rookies, based upon their playing time and salary levels.
Instituted in partnership with the NFL Players Association, as a part of the 2002 extension to the collective bargaining agreement, players can now collect on two different performance-based bonus options.
HOW PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY WORKS
Under the Performance-Based Pay program, a fund is created and used as a supplemental form of player compensation based on a comparison of playing time to salary. Players become eligible to receive a bonus distribution in any regular season in which they play at least one official down. In general, players with higher playtime percentages and lower salaries benefit most from the pools.
Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a player index (“Index”). To produce the Index, a player’s regular-season playtime (total plays on offense, defense and special teams) is divided by his adjusted regular-season compensation (full season salary, a prorated portion of signing bonus, earned incentives). Each player’s Index is then compared to those of the other players on his team to determine the amount of his Performance-Based Pay.
Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Nathan Gerry will have a ton of extra cash heading his way after he led all his teammates in performance-based pay from the 2019 NFL season. Gerry, a fifth-round pick in the 2017 NFL Draft, has outperformed his rookie deal and will be compensated handsomely for it.
Gerry’s payout was ranked 12th in the NFL at $345,976, which ranks 12th most in the NFL. He also earned $213,484 from the veteran pool, bringing his combined bonus of $559,460 to add to his $645,000 base salary.
Gerry played 61 percent of the Eagles defensive snaps and 74 percent of the special teams snaps last season.
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