Numerous Former Alabama Players Receive Large NFL Performance-Based Payouts

The National Football League announced the latest figures for its “Performance-Based Pay” program that compensates players for their playing time and salary levels, and numerous former Alabama players will be receiving some extra money.

Overall, the league will distribute $147.952 million in performance play for the 2019 season. Another $83.2 million from the NFL Players Association will go to a veteran pool, bringing the total to $231.152.

Kansas City Chiefs cornerback Chavarius Ward, an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State, topped the list of performance-base distribution with a payout $428,335.

However right behind him were two former Crimson Tide players, Cleveland Browns linebacker Mack Wilson at $415,296 and Baltimore Ravens offensive lineman Bradley Bozeman at $403,685.

Wilson was a fifth-round selection last year and made $495,000 as part of his rookie contract, worth $2.82 million over four years. He made 14 starts as a rookie, with 57 tackles with sack, a forced fumble and an interception.

Bozeman was a sixth-round selection in 2018 inked a four-year deal worth $2.57 million including a $118.408 signing bonus. He started all 16 games for the Ravens last season.

Buffalo Bills cornerback Levi Wallace, who went undrafted in 2018, was ninth with a $393,599 payout.

Bozeman also received $209, 495 from the veteran pool, bringing his total up to $613,180.

Wallace got $205,356 from the veteran pool for a $568,954 total.

Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson also got a nice check, $302,105 in performance-based pay, plus $189,171 from the veteran poll, for an extra $491,275 above his contract.

In January, he signed a to a four-year extension worth $58.4 million, including $33 million in guarantees, the highest-paid safety in NFL history. Last season, though, he made only $645,000 in base salary.

How performance-based pay work

Per 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.

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.