NFL Players will receive $147.952 million in “Performance-Based Pay” for their performance during the 2019 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.

In addition to the Performance-Based Pay pool, the NFL Players Association has elected to dedicate $83.2 million in benefits (i.e., $2.6 million per club) to fund a Veteran Performance-Based Compensation Pool (the “Veteran Pool”) for players with one or more accrued seasons. In total, $231.152 million will be disbursed to players under the combined pools.

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback CHARVARIUS WARD earned the highest combined distribution of all NFL players in the 2019 Performance-Based Pay program. He earned a total of $654,750, nearly 15 percent more than his 2019 salary, comprised of the following amounts: $428,335 from the Performance-Based Pay Pool, and an additional $226,415 from the Veteran Pool. Ward, a 2018 undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State, started all 16 games for the Chiefs during the 2019 regular season, playing in nearly 95 percent of the Chiefs’ defensive plays, as well as nearly 26 percent of the Chiefs’ special teams plays.  He earned the league minimum salary for a player with one credited season (i.e., $570,000).  Ward signed an undrafted free agent contract with the Cowboys in May of 2018 before being traded to the Chiefs in August 2018. During Kansas City’s Super Bowl-winning season in 2019, Ward finished second on the team with a career-high 10 passes defensed and registered his first two career interceptions.

Players have been paid approximately $1.8 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.

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 A50%$     500,00010.050% of the Club’s pool (10 out of 20)50% * $1,000,000 = $500,000
Player B50%$  1,000,0005.025% of the Club’s pool (5 out of 20)25% * $1,000,000 = $250,000
Player C20%$     500,0004.020% of the Club’s pool (4 out of 20)20% * $1,000,000 = $200,000
Player D10%$  1,000,0001.05% 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 2019

 

PLAYER

 

CLUB

 

POS

 

COLLEGE

ROOKIE

YEAR

DRAFT

ROUND

 

DISTRIBUTION

1 Charvarius WardKansas CityCBMiddle Tennessee St.2018UDFA $428,335
2 Mack WilsonClevelandLBAlabama20195 $415,296
3 Bradley BozemanBaltimoreCAlabama20186 $403,685
4 Xavier WoodsDallasSLouisiana Tech20176 $403,298
5 Kyle AllenCarolinaQBHouston2018UDFA $393,378
6 Ted KarrasNew EnglandCIllinois20166 $393,363
7 Matt FeilerPittsburghTBloomsburg2014UDFA $387,578
8 J.C. JacksonNew EnglandCBMaryland2018UDFA $375,004
9 Levi WallaceBuffaloCBAlabama2018UDFA $363,599
10 Matt MilanoBuffaloLBBoston College20175 $360,498
11 Justin MurrayArizonaTCincinnati2016UDFA $346,499
12 Nathan GerryPhiladelphiaLBNebraska20175 $345,976
13 Tre FlowersSeattleCBOklahoma State20185 $340,118
14 Dre GreenlawSan FranciscoLBArkansas20195 $339,981
15 Zach PascalIndianapolisWROld Dominion2017UDFA $328,890
16 Tre HerndonJacksonvilleCBVanderbilt2018UDFA $327,050
17 Emmanuel MoseleySan FranciscoCBTennessee2018UDFA $326,516
18 Gardner MinshewJacksonvilleQBWashington State20196 $319,098
19 Jordan WhiteheadTampa BaySPittsburgh20184 $313,985
20 Chuck ClarkBaltimoreSVirginia Tech20176 $311,857
21 Nicholas MorrowOaklandLBGreenville2017UDFA $309,968
22 Marshall NewhouseNew EnglandTTexas Christian20105 $307,476
23 Allen LazardGreen BayWRIowa State2018UDFA $307,304
24 Dennis DaleyCarolinaTSouth Carolina20196 $306,889
25 Jon HalapioNY GiantsCFlorida20146 $306,081

UDFA – Undrafted free agent

TOP 25 DISTRIBUTIONS FROM THE VETERAN POOL

 

PLAYER

 

CLUB

 

POS

 

COLLEGE

ROOKIE

YEAR

DRAFT

ROUND

 

DISTRIBUTION

1 Ted KarrasNew EnglandCIllinois20166 $242,584
2 Matt MilanoBuffaloLBBoston College20175 $237,672
3 Matt FeilerPittsburghTBloomsburg2014UDFA $236,004
4 Charvarius WardKansas CityCBMiddle Tennessee St.2018UDFA $226,415
5 Nicholas MorrowOaklandLBGreenville2017UDFA $220,013
6 Jordan WhiteheadTampa BaySPittsburgh20184 $215,356
7 Jon HalapioNY GiantsCFlorida20146 $214,374
8 Nathan GerryPhiladelphiaLBNebraska20175 $213,484
9 Xavier WoodsDallasSLouisiana Tech20176 $212,457
10 Bradley BozemanBaltimoreCAlabama20186 $209,495
11 Tre HerndonJacksonvilleCBVanderbilt2018UDFA $205,658
12 Levi WallaceBuffaloCBAlabama2018UDFA $205,356
13 Anthony WalkerIndianapolisLBNorthwestern20175 $205,094
14 Damontae KazeeAtlantaSSan Diego State20175 $202,885
15 Zach PascalIndianapolisWROld Dominion2017UDFA $200,948
16 Dion DawkinsBuffaloTTemple20172 $198,085
17 Richie IncognitoOaklandGNebraska20053 $197,329
18 Tre FlowersSeattleCBOklahoma State20185 $193,666
19 Justin MurrayArizonaTCincinnati2016UDFA $192,648
20 Elijah WilkinsonDenverTMassachusetts2017UDFA $192,217
21 Jon BosticWashingtonLBFlorida20132 $191,655
22 Jerome BakerMiamiLBOhio State20183 $191,282
23 Pat ElfleinMinnesotaGOhio State20173 $190,797
24 Taylor MotonCarolinaTWestern Michigan20172 $190,592
25 David MayoNY GiantsLBTexas State20155 $190,166

UDFA – Undrafted free agent

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

  

 PLAYER

 

CLUB

 

POS

 

COLLEGE

ROOKIE

YEAR

DRAFT

ROUND

PERFORMANCE-BASED

PAY

VETERAN POOLCOMBINED DISTRIBUTION
1 Charvarius WardKansas CityCBMiddle Tennessee St.2018UDFA $428,335 $226,415 $654,750
2 Ted KarrasNew EnglandCIllinois20166 $393,363 $242,584 $635,947
3 Matt FeilerPittsburghTBloomsburg2014UDFA $387,578 $236,004 $623,582
4 Xavier WoodsDallasSLouisiana Tech20176 $403,298 $212,457 $615,755
5 Bradley BozemanBaltimoreCAlabama20186 $403,685 $209,495 $613,180
6 Matt MilanoBuffaloLBBoston College20175 $360,498 $237,672 $598,171
7 Levi WallaceBuffaloCBAlabama2018UDFA $363,599 $205,356 $568,954
8 Nathan GerryPhiladelphiaLBNebraska20175 $345,976 $213,484 $559,460
9 J.C. JacksonNew EnglandCBMaryland2018UDFA $375,004 $184,032 $559,036
10 Justin MurrayArizonaTCincinnati2016UDFA $346,499 $192,648 $539,147
11 Tre FlowersSeattleCBOklahoma State20185 $340,118 $193,666 $533,784
12 Tre HerndonJacksonvilleCBVanderbilt2018UDFA $327,050 $205,658 $532,708
13 Nicholas MorrowOaklandLBGreenville2017UDFA $309,968 $220,013 $529,981
14 Zach PascalIndianapolisWROld Dominion2017UDFA $328,890 $200,948 $529,838
15 Jordan WhiteheadTampa BaySPittsburgh20184 $313,985 $215,356 $529,341
16 Jon HalapioNY GiantsCFlorida20146 $306,081 $214,374 $520,454
17 Emmanuel MoseleySan FranciscoCBTennessee2018UDFA $326,516 $174,002 $500,519
18 Damontae KazeeAtlantaSSan Diego State20175 $295,050 $202,885 $497,934
19 Chuck ClarkBaltimoreSVirginia Tech20176 $311,857 $183,103 $494,960
20 Anthony WalkerIndianapolisLBNorthwestern20175 $287,430 $205,094 $492,525
21 Eddie JacksonChicagoSAlabama20174 $302,105 $189,171 $491,275
22 Marshall NewhouseNew EnglandTTexas Christian20105 $307,476 $169,375 $476,850
23 Richie IncognitoOaklandGNebraska20053 $279,239 $197,329 $476,567
24 Jayon BrownTennesseeLBUCLA20175 $286,641 $188,386 $475,027
25 Orlando BrownBaltimoreTOklahoma20183 $288,015 $177,517 $465,532
UDFA – Undrafted free agent