Players will receive $116.256.00 million in performance-based pay for their production and play-time. They have been paid nearly $925 million cumulatively since the inception of the Performance-Based Pay program, which was created and implemented as part of the NFL’s 2002 Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association, and is still apart of the current CBA agreement.
Seantrel Henderson, the Bills’ 2014 seventh-round draft choice from the University of Miami, earned $373,671 in additional pay. Henderson played for the league’s rookie minimum salary of $420,000 last year and an additional signing bonus of $50,880. He participated in 100% of Buffalo’s offensive plays, as well as 15% of the team’s special teams plays and earned the top figure.
Under the Performance-Based Pay system, 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.
Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a “player 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, 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 pay.
ILLUSTRATION OF PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY SYSTEM
Each player on the same team competes for his own share of his club’s Performance-Based Pay pool. The hypothetical example in the table below illustrates how the index works, using a simplified four-player team and a club bonus pool of $1,000,000. Each player receives his share of the pool depending on how his index compares to those of his teammates.
| A
Playtime |
B
Compensation |
C
Index (A/B) |
D
% of Club Bonus Pool (C/Team Total C) |
E
Hypothetical Bonus (D * $1,000,000) |
|
| Player A | 50% | $ 500,000 | 10.0 | 50% of the Club’s pool (10 out of 20) | 50% * $1,000,000 = $500,000 |
| Player B | 50% | $ 1,000,000 | 5.0 | 25% of the Club’s pool (5 out of 20) | 25% * $1,000,000 = $250,000 |
| Player C | 20% | $ 500,000 | 4.0 | 20% of the Club’s pool (4 out of 20) | 20% * $1,000,000 = $200,000 |
| Player D | 10% | $ 1,000,000 | 1.0 | 5% of the Club’s pool (1 out of 20) | 5% * $1,000,000 = $5,000 |
| Team Total: | 20.0 Points | ||||
PERFORMANCE BASED PAY DISTRIBUTION SUMMARY 2002-2014
(Note: The Performance Based Pay Pool was not in effect in the 2010 and 2011 League Years)
| 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
TOTALS | |
| ($ in 000s) | ||||||||||||
| League-wide Pool | 15,104 | 32,000 | 57,088 | 79,392 | 90,932 | 98,840 | 104,240 | 109,532 |
110,720 |
110,720 |
116,256 |
924,824 |
| Per Club | 472 | 1,000 | 1,784 | 2,481 | 2,842 | 3,089 | 3,258 | 3,423 |
3,460 |
3,460 |
3,633 |
28,902 |
| Per Player Statistics (actual $) | ||||||||||||
| Average Bonus | 8,055 | 17,036 | 29,610 | 41,654 | 47,627 | 50,948 | 54,547 | 55,998 |
55,250 |
55,471 |
57,496 |
|
| Median Bonus | 6,258 | 12,541 | 20,675 | 26,763 | 32,422 | 34,749 | 35,823 | 34,818 |
37,369 |
38,081 |
38,583 |
|
| Largest Bonus | 42,048 | 114,258 | 227,625 | 275,143 | 366,017 | 309,534 | 405,859 | 397,555 |
299,465 |
318,244 |
373,671 |
|
| # of Payments | 1,875 | 1,873 | 1,928 | 1,906 | 1,909 | 1,940 | 1,911 | 1,956 |
2,004 |
1,996 |
2,022 |
|
TOP 25 PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR 2014
|
PLAYER |
CLUB |
POSITION |
COLLEGE |
DRAFT
YEAR |
DRAFT
ROUND |
DISTRIBUTION |
|
| 1 | Seantrel Henderson | Buffalo | T | Miami | 2014 | 7 | $ 373,671 |
| 2 | Corey Linsley | Green Bay | C | Ohio State | 2014 | 5 | $ 339,566 |
| 3 | Russell Bodine | Cincinnati | C | North Carolina | 2014 | 4 | $ 318,612 |
| 4 | Avery Williamson | Tennessee | LB | Kentucky | 2014 | 5 | $ 315,120 |
| 5 | E.J. Gaines | St. Louis | DB | Missouri | 2014 | 6 | $ 308,338 |
| 6 | Zach Fulton | Kansas City | G | Tennessee | 2014 | 6 | $ 303,352 |
| 7 | Kelvin Beachum | Pittsburgh | T | Southern Methodist | 2012 | 7 | $ 297,687 |
| 8 | Preston Brown | Buffalo | LB | Louisville | 2014 | 3 | $ 293,179 |
| 9 | Michael Wilhoite | San Francisco | LB | Washburn | 2011 | UDFA | $ 292,406 |
| 10 | Paul Worrilow | Atlanta | LB | Delaware | 2013 | UDFA | $ 287,413 |
| 11 | Ronald Leary | Dallas | G | Memphis | 2012 | UDFA | $ 286,813 |
| 12 | Brandon Marshall | Denver | LB | Nevada | 2012 | 5 | $ 277,471 |
| 13 | George Iloka | Cincinnati | DB | Boise State | 2012 | 5 | $ 273,612 |
| 14 | Michael Ola | Chicago | G | Hampton | 2013 | UDFA | $ 266,555 |
| 15 | David Bakhtiari | Green Bay | T | Colorado | 2013 | 4 | $ 263,333 |
| 16 | Rodney McLeod | St. Louis | DB | Virginia | 2012 | UDFA | $ 261,611 |
| 17 | J.R. Sweezy | Seattle | G | North Carolina State | 2012 | 7 | $ 259,704 |
| 18 | Patrick Omameh | Tampa Bay | G | Michigan | 2013 | UDFA | $ 258,005 |
| 19 | Tony Jefferson | Arizona | DB | Oklahoma | 2013 | UDFA | $ 252,806 |
| 20 | Emmanuel Lamur | Cincinnati | LB | Kansas State | 2012 | UDFA | $ 249,334 |
| 21 | Ryan Hewitt | Cincinnati | TE | Stanford | 2014 | UDFA | $ 248,938 |
| 22 | J.J. Wilcox | Dallas | DB | Georgia Southern | 2013 | 3 | $ 245,173 |
| 23 | Bashaud Breeland | Washington | DB | Clemson | 2014 | 4 | $ 245,093 |
| 24 | Jelani Jenkins | Miami | LB | Florida | 2013 | 4 | $ 242,782 |
| 25 | Ricky Wagner | Baltimore | T | Wisconsin | 2013 | 5 | $ 241,690 |
UDFA – Undrafted free agent
(Data provided by NFL Communications)
