Report: Falcons DE Adrian Clayborn's Six Sacks Earn Him $750,000

If you think you had a good day at the office, wait until you see Clayborn's.

Adrian Clayborn had a good day at the office on Sunday.

The Falcons defensive end had six sacks during Atlanta's 27-7 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, breaking a franchise record for sacks in a game.

The six sacks are the second most in a game in NFL history, trailing the seven Derrick Thomas had Nov. 11, 1990. His performance Sunday was the most prolific sack outing since Osi Umenyiora had six sacks against the Eagles on Sept. 30, 2007. Before Sunday, Clayborn's career high for sacks in a game was two, which he accomplished just once, in an Atlanta 33-32 win over the Packers last season.

If that wasn't good enough, ESPN's Adam Schefterreports that Clayborn's performance triggered a $750,000 incentive in his contract for recording eight sacks in the season (he entered Sunday with two). Two more sacks will net the 29-year-old $1.25 million.

Clayborn's first sack of the game came on the first drive of the game. His next one came on a third down in the second quarter. And with the Cowboys driving late in the first half, Clayborn picked up his third sack of the game on a Dallas first down at the Atlanta 39, and forced and recovered a fumble on the play.

In the second half, Clayborn kept up his domination by getting his fourth sack on the Cowboys first drive of the third quarter. Sack No. 5 came on third down of the next drive and forced Dallas off the field. With the game in hand, Clayborn sealed his game with a second strip-sack, once again recovered by Atlanta.

Clayborn recorded five of his sacks while lining up against Cowboys left tackle Chaz Green, who was filling in for an injured Tyron Smith. "I only have one move and it worked," Clayborn said, via the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The seventh-year Iowa product recorded just 7.5 sacks combined between 2015-2016 and hadn't cracked six in a season since his rookie campaign in 2011 with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

In total, the Falcons had eight sacks against the Cowboys. At 5-4, Atlanta will face the Seahawks on Monday night next week, and the 5-4 Cowboys will play the Eagles Sunday night.