Greg Mancz cashes in as Texans' performance-based pay leader

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Former undrafted center Greg Mancz salvaged the Texans' interior line situation last season when rookie starter Nick Martin underwent season-ending ankle surgery.

Mancz wound up solidifying the middle of the line, starting every game and held up capably as he drew praise repeatedly from coach Bill O'Brien and offensive line coach Mike Devlin.

Mancz was rewarded under the NFL annual performance-based pay system, which rewards players for playing time based upon their salary levels. The money doesn't count against the salary cap through a individual team pool of $3.995 million.

A former undrafted free agent from Toledo who earned a $525,000 minimum base salary last season, Mancz gets a team-high $314,808 payout.

Players have been paid over $1 billion cumulatively since the launch of the performance-based pay program in the 2002 NFL collective bargaining agreement with the NFL Players Association and continued under the current labor deal.

Under the 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.

The amount is computed through a player index. To produce the index, a player's regular-season playtime based on total plays on offense, defense and special teams is divided by his adjusted regular-season compensation, his full-season salary, prorated portion of signing bonus and earned incentives.

Texans center Greg Mancz was the team's top earner in the NFL annual performance-based pay system, which rewards players for playing time based upon their salary levels. Texans center Greg Mancz was the team's top earner in the NFL annual performance-based pay system, which rewards players for playing time based upon their salary levels. Photo: Houston Chronicle Photo: Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 83 Caption Close Greg Mancz cashes in as Texans' performance-based pay leader 1 / 83 Back to Gallery

Each player's index is then compared to those of the other players on his team to determine the amount of his pay.

Several other Texans players did well under the system, including undrafted safety Corey Moore. Moore replaced Andre Hal in the starting lineup late in the season. Moore will receive a $257,752 payout.

That was followed by Hal ($227,357), sixth-round rookie nose tackle D.J Reader ($159,851), defensive end Christian Covington ($151,893), inside linebacker and special-teams contributor Max Bullough ($133,161), second-team All-Pro inside linebacker Benardrick McKinney ($131,300), tight end Ryan Griffin ($122,843), tight end C.J. Fiedorowicz ($119,537), who established career milestones statistically, offensive guard Xavier Su'a-Filo ($105,754), wide receiver Braxton Miller ($98,256) and fullback Jay Prosch ($96,854).