Former SEC players cash in as NFL announces $147 million in 2019 ‘Performance-Based Pay’ bonuses
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Several former SEC players just made a ton of extra money for their 2019 efforts.
If you are unfamiliar with the NFL’s “Performance-Based Pay” bonus system, the league pays players that exceed the playing time expected per their contract. This system was designed to reward players that are on the lower end of the spectrum, in terms of annual compensation on the roster, yet make big impacts for their franchise.
In total, the league handed out $147.952 million in “Performance-Based Pay” for the 2019 season.
Here’s the official explanation on the “Performance-Based Pay” bonus system provided by the NFL:
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, 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.
Now that you get the idea of the bonus system, we’ve taken the liberty of rounding up the former SEC players that benefitted the most following their outstanding seasons on the field in 2019.
Listed in order of their bonus checks, here are the eight former SEC players that were listed among the top 25 highest check earners following the conclusion of the 2019 season:
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A graduate of the University of Tennessee, Michael Wayne Bratton oversees the news coverage for Saturday Down South. Michael previously worked for FOX Sports and NFL.com
