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)