NFL Players will receive $134.16 million in “Performance-Based Pay” for their performance during the 2017 season, the NFL announced today. The Performance-Based Pay program is a collectively-bargained benefit that compensates all players, including rookies, based upon their playing time and salary levels.
Tennessee Titans’ guard Quinton Spain earned the highest amount of all NFL players, both in the Performance-Based Pay program, as well as the Veteran Pool. Under the combined pools, Spain will receive $489,782. Spain, a 2015 undrafted free agent out of West Virginia, played in 14 games for the Titans this season, starting all games in which he played. He played in 85.71% of Tennessee’s offensive plays, as well 13.08% of the Titans’ special teams plays, while earning the league minimum salary for a player with two credited seasons. See the tables below for the top 25 bonuses in each category.
Players have been paid nearly $1.4 billion cumulatively since the inception of the Performance-Based Pay program, which was implemented as part of the NFL’s 2002 Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association, and continues as part of the parties’ current agreement.
The Veteran Pool is a component of the Rookie Redistribution Fund, which is a player benefit that was created under the 2011 Collective Bargaining Agreement. The NFL Players Association elected to fund the Veteran Pool for the first time in 2016 and extended the benefit for the 2017 season.
TOP 25 PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR 2017
|
PLAYER |
CLUB |
POS |
COLLEGE |
ROOKIE
YEAR |
DRAFT
ROUND |
DISTRIBUTION |
|
| 1 | Quinton Spain | Tennessee | G | West Virginia | 2015 | UDFA | $ 385,490.95 |
| 2 | Wes Schweitzer | Atlanta | G | San Jose State | 2016 | 6 | $ 376,698.80 |
| 3 | Jalen Mills | Philadelphia | CB | LSU | 2016 | 7 | $ 364,744.97 |
| 4 | Anthony Brown | Dallas | CB | Purdue | 2016 | 6 | $ 345,299.22 |
| 5 | Keelan Cole | Jacksonville | WR | Kentucky Wesleyan | 2017 | UDFA | $ 344,998.87 |
| 6 | Nicholas Morrow | Oakland | LB | Greenville | 2017 | UDFA | $ 337,312.82 |
| 7 | Eddie Jackson | Chicago | S | Alabama | 2017 | 4 | $ 334,782.65 |
| 8 | John Wetzel | Arizona | T | Boston College | 2013 | UDFA | $ 333,603.68 |
| 9 | Kevin Byard | Tennessee | S | Middle Tennessee | 2016 | 3 | $ 333,066.93 |
| 10 | Mike Hilton | Pittsburgh | CB | Mississippi | 2016 | UDFA | $ 327,377.67 |
| 11 | Daryl Williams | Carolina | T | Oklahoma | 2015 | 4 | $ 321,834.89 |
| 12 | Jayon Brown | Tennessee | LB | UCLA | 2017 | 5 | $ 321,425.69 |
| 13 | Trevor Williams | LA Chargers | CB | Penn State | 2016 | UDFA | $ 316,820.42 |
| 14 | Shaq Mason | New England | G | Georgia Tech | 2015 | 4 | $ 314,837.80 |
| 15 | Ricardo Allen | Atlanta | S | Purdue | 2014 | 5 | $ 313,711.25 |
| 16 | Dak Prescott | Dallas | QB | Mississippi State | 2016 | 4 | $ 313,406.43 |
| 17 | Trey Hopkins | Cincinnati | G | Texas | 2014 | UDFA | $ 310,435.00 |
| 18 | Jesse Davis | Miami | G/T | Idaho | 2015 | UDFA | $ 308,989.36 |
| 19 | Spencer Pulley | LA Chargers | C | Vanderbilt | 2016 | UDFA | $ 304,021.36 |
| 20 | Tyler Larsen | Carolina | C | Utah State | 2014 | UDFA | $ 299,594.37 |
| 21 | Joe Thuney | New England | G | North Carolina State | 2016 | 3 | $ 296,620.57 |
| 22 | Ken Crawley | New Orleans | CB | Colorado | 2016 | UDFA | $ 295,826.77 |
| 23 | Jesse James | Pittsburgh | TE | Penn State | 2015 | 5 | $ 293,971.07 |
| 24 | Halapoulivaati Vaitai | Philadelphia | T | TCU | 2016 | 5 | $ 293,132.51 |
| 25 | Blake Martinez | Green Bay | LB | Stanford | 2016 | 4 | $ 291,170.83 |
UDFA – Undrafted free agent