2018 Performance-Based Pay Distributions Announced

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​2018 PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY DISTRIBUTIONS ANNOUNCED

NFL Players will receive $140.88 million in “Performance-Based Pay” for their performance during the 2018 season, the NFL announced today. The Performance-Based Pay program is a collectively-bargained b​enefit that compensates all players, including rookies, based upon their playing time and salary levels.

In addition to the Performance-Based Pay pool, the NFL Players Association has elected to dedicate $48 million in benefits (i.e., $1.5 million per club) to fund a Veteran Performance-Based Compensation Pool (the “Veteran Pool”) for players with one or more accrued seasons. In total, $188.88 million will be disbursed to players under the combined pools.

Baltimore Ravens’ center MATT SKURA earned the highest combined distribution of all NFL players in the 2018 Performance-Based Pay program. He earned a total of $533,558, nearly doubling his 2018 salary, comprised of the following amounts: $395,660 from the Performance-Based Pay Pool, and an additional $137,898 from the Veteran Pool. Skura, a 2016 undrafted free agent out of Duke, started in all 16 games for the Ravens during the 2018 season, playing in every offensive play, as well 17 percent of the Ravens’ special teams plays. He earned the league minimum salary for a player with one credited season (i.e., $555,000). Skura spent the 2016 season and part of the 2017 season on the Ravens’ practice squad before signing a one-year free agent contract with the club early in the 2017 season. He signed an Exclusive Rights Contract with the Ravens in 2018.

Players have been paid approximately $1.5 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 has extended the benefit each season since then.

See the tables below for the top 25 distributions in each category, as well as combined totals.

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, 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.

The Veteran Pool is computed in a similar manner, with two significant modifications: 1) players with zero accrued seasons are not eligible to receive distributions, however, such players remain eligible to receive distributions under the Performance-Based Pay program; and 2) to calculate the eligible player’s Index, if the player’s full-season base salary is less than $1 million, an additional amount will be imputed so that the player’s base salary equals $1 million. By imputing a minimum of $1 million to the denominator of the Veteran Pool’s index calculation (playtime divided by salary), a slightly higher percentage of the pool is directed to high-performing veteran players whose salaries exceed $1 million but are not among the highest in the league, as contemplated by the formula. This imputation of salary is solely for the purpose of calculating distributions from the pool, and does not affect the actual salary paid to the player under his contract.

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 Player 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 = $50,000 Team Total: 20.0 Points

** Index is multiplied by 107 for legibility purposes only

TOP 25 PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY DISTRIBUTIONS FOR 2018

PLAYER CLUB POS COLLEGE ROOKIE YEAR DRAFT ROUND DISTRIBUTION 1 Matt Skura Baltimore C Duke 2016 UDFA $ 395,660 2 Austin Blythe LA Rams G Iowa 2016 7 $ 380,060 3 Jesse Davis Miami G Idaho 2015 UDFA $ 374,833 4 Jayon Brown Tennessee ILB UCLA 2017 5 $ 373,575 5 Cory Littleton LA Rams ILB Washington 2016 UDFA $ 371,379 6 Chase Roullier Washington C Wyoming 2017 6 $ 358,849 7 Joe Thuney New England G NC State 2016 3 $ 352,578 8 Tre Flowers Seattle CB Oklahoma State 2018 5 $ 337,399 9 Alex Redmond Cincinnati G UCLA 2016 UDFA $ 328,932 10 Sam Tevi LA Chargers T Utah 2017 6 $ 323,682 11 Eddie Jackson Chicago FS Alabama 2017 4 $ 323,451 12 Jonathan Jones New England CB Auburn 2016 UDFA $ 323,294 13 Damontae Kazee Atlanta SS San Diego State 2017 5 $ 320,931 14 Andrew Wylie Kansas City T Eastern Michigan 2017 UDFA $ 311,406 15 Kendall Fuller Kansas City CB Virginia Tech 2016 3 $ 309,468 16 Chris Clark Carolina T Southern Mississippi 2008 UDFA $ 306,770 17 Graham Glasgow Detroit C Michigan 2016 3 $ 306,379 18 Curtis Riley NY Giants FS Fresno State 2015 UDFA $ 304,784 19 Keelan Cole Jacksonville WR Kentucky Wesleyan 2017 UDFA $ 301,144 20 Connor McGovern Denver G Missouri 2016 5 $ 300,952 21 Desmond King LA Chargers CB Iowa 2017 5 $ 300,335 22 Kenny Moore Indianapolis CB Valdosta State 2017 UDFA $ 298,620 23 B.W. Webb NY Giants CB William & Mary 2013 4 $ 295,905 24 Chad Wheeler NY Giants T Southern California 2017 UDFA $ 295,242 25 Justin Reid Houston SS Stanford 2018 3 $ 293,739

UDFA – Undrafted free agent

TOP 25 DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE VETERAN POOL

PLAYER CLUB POS COLLEGE ROOKIE YEAR DRAFT ROUND DISTRIBUTION 1 Connor McGovern Denver G Missouri 2016 5 $ 144,472 2 Matt Skura Baltimore C Duke 2016 UDFA $ 137,898 3 Justin Simmons Denver FS Boston College 2016 3 $ 136,941 4 Blake Martinez Green Bay ILB Stanford 2016 4 $ 136,439 5 Austin Blythe LA Rams G Iowa 2016 7 $ 133,556 6 Julien Davenport Houston T Bucknell 2017 4 $ 131,273 7 Cory Littleton LA Rams ILB Washington 2016 UDFA $ 130,864 8 Kendall Lamm Houston T Appalachian State 2015 UDFA $ 128,472 9 Graham Glasgow Detroit C Michigan 2016 3 $ 125,705 10 Kenny Moore Indianapolis CB Valdosta State 2017 UDFA $ 125,435 11 Kendall Fuller Kansas City CB Virginia Tech 2016 3 $ 125,294 12 Chase Roullier Washington C Wyoming 2017 6 $ 122,272 13 Mike Person San Francisco G Montana State 2011 7 $ 121,394 14 Jesse Davis Miami G Idaho 2015 UDFA $ 120,991 15 Joe Thuney New England G NC State 2016 3 $ 120,697 16 Curtis Riley NY Giants FS Fresno State 2015 UDFA $ 120,552 17 Sam Tevi LA Chargers T Utah 2017 6 $ 118,750 18 B.W. Webb NY Giants CB William & Mary 2013 4 $ 118,688 19 Cody Whitehair Chicago C Kansas State 2016 2 $ 118,320 20 Kevin Byard Tennessee FS Middle Tennessee 2016 3 $ 117,580 21 Anthony Harris Minnesota FS Virginia 2015 UDFA $ 117,001 22 Jayon Brown Tennessee ILB UCLA 2017 5 $ 116,089 23 Ron Parker Kansas City FS Newberry 2011 UDFA $ 113,850 24 Dan Feeney LA Chargers G Indiana 2017 3 $ 113,519 25 Desmond King LA Chargers CB Iowa 2017 5 $ 112,403

UDFA – Undrafted free agent





TOP 25 COMBINED DISTRIBUTIONS (PERFORMANCE-BASED PAY PLUS VETERAN POOL)