Details On Riley Reiff's Pay Cut With the Vikings, Including Incentives
Earlier this week, just when it seemed like the Vikings would be forced to release left tackle Riley Reiff for cap savings, the veteran changed his mind and agreed to take a pay cut to stay in Minnesota.
Now we know the exact details of that pay cut. Reiff's base salary for 2020 has been nearly cut in half, going from $11 million to $6 million, as first reported by Ian Rapaport on Thursday.
However, Reiff can make back up to $2 million of that $5 million salary reduction if he reaches certain playing time incentives. If Reiff plays 86 percent of the Vikings' snaps this season, he will earn $1 million. If he plays 93.75 percent, that's another million.
Reiff has stayed very healthy during his NFL career, so there's a solid chance he reaches at least one of the incentives. He's averaged roughly 89 percent of his teams' offensive snaps over the past seven years as a starter, including 97 percent in 2013 and 100 percent in 2015, both times with the Lions. During his Vikings career, Reiff peaked with 90 percent of the Vikings' snaps in 2017.
The important distinction here is that these incentives are deemed "Not Likely To Be Earned" because Reiff played 85.5 percent of the Vikings' snaps last year. Incentives in the NFL are "Likely To Be Earned" if the player exceeded the incentive total in the previous year. If he didn't, they're qualified as NLTBE.
While LTBE incentives count against the cap for the season in which they are reached, NLTBE incentives don't count until the following season's cap. That means the Vikings are guaranteed to get the entire $5 million of cap savings in 2020. If Reiff earns either $1 or $2 million in incentives, those will count towards' the Vikings 2021 cap.
This pay cut puts Reiff's salary more in line with his production level. While his $11 million base salary would've ranked seventh among all NFL tackles, a $6 million base is just 18th. That's still a lot higher than Brian O'Neill's $880,000 base salary, which ranks 76th among tackles. (Good players on rookie contracts are the most valuable thing in the league).
Reiff returned to practice on Thursday after missing the last three days while this situation was resolved.
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