NFL News: 2023 Performance-Based Pay Distributions Announced

By Lydia Jane Allison

NEW YORK — April 1, 2024 — NFL players will receive $393.8 million in Performance-Based Pay for their performance during the 2023 season, the NFL announced today. The Performance-Based Pay program is a collectively bargained benefit that compensates all players based upon their playing time and salary levels.

​Guard JOHN SIMPSON, who played for the Baltimore Ravens in 2023, earned the highest amount among all NFL players for the 2023 League Year Performance-Based Pay program. His $974,613 distribution will nearly double his 2023 salary.  Simpson was a 2020 fourth-round draft choice from Clemson who played the 2023 season under a one-year minimum salary contract. He participated in all but seven plays on offense and almost 19 percent of the club’s special team plays.

Players have been paid nearly $2.4 billion cumulatively since the inception of the Performance-Based Pay program, which was implemented during the 2002 season as part of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association, and has been carried forward in three subsequent collective bargaining agreements.

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 upon 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 pool.

Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a player index (“Index”). To calculate the Index, a player’s “PBP Playtime” (defined as the player’s regular season total plays played on offense, defense and special teams, divided by the number of plays in which the player with the most total combined plays participated on that team) is divided by his “PBP Compensation” (defined as each player’s regular season full salary, including his prorated portion of signing bonus, and earned incentives). Each player’s Index is then compared to those of all other players on his team to determine the amount of his Performance-Based Pay. If a player’s full season salary is less than the CBA Minimum Salary for a player with seven or more Credited Seasons, additional salary will be imputed to that player so that his salary is equal to the Minimum Salary for a player with seven or more Credited Seasons (i.e., $1.165M for the 2023 season). By imputing a minimum salary of $1.165 million, a slightly higher percentage of the pool is directed to high-performing veteran players whose salaries exceed $1.165 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

PBP

Playtime

B

PBP

Compensation

C

Index**

(A/B)

D

% of Club Bonus Pool

(C/Team Total C)

E

Hypothetical Bonus

(D * $1,000,000)

Player A 85% $ 1,165,000 7.3 56.6% of the Club’s pool 56.6% * $1,000,000 = $566,000
Player B 50% $ 2,000,000 2.5 19.4% of the Club’s pool 19.4% * $1,000,000 = $194,000
Player C 50% $ 5,000,000 1.0 7.7% of the Club’s pool 7.7% * $1,000,000 = $77,000
Player D 25% $ 1,165,000 2.1 16.3% of the Club’s pool      16.3% * $1,000,000 =   $163,000
Team Total: 12.9 Points  



** Index is multiplied by 107 for legibility purposes only​

Top 25 Performance-Based Pay Distributions For 2023

 

PLAYER

 

2023 CLUB

 

POS.

 

COLLEGE

ROOKIE

YEAR

DRAFT

ROUND

DISTRIBUTION

(ROUNDED)

1  John Simpson Baltimore G Clemson 2020 4 $ 974,613
2  Reed Blankenship Philadelphia S Middle Tennessee State 2022 UDFA $ 923,059
3  Spencer Brown Buffalo T Northern Iowa 2021 3 $ 912,723
4  Cordell Volson Cincinnati G North Dakota State 2022 4 $ 905,972
5  Kader Kohou Miami CB Texas A&M-Commerce 2022 UDFA $ 878,167
6  Luke Fortner Jacksonville C Kentucky 2022 3 $ 872,196
7  Trey Smith Kansas City G Tennessee 2021 6 $ 865,484
8  O’Cyrus Torrence Buffalo G Florida 2023 2 $ 847,180
9  Jamaree Salyer L.A. Chargers G Georgia 2022 6 $ 840,282
10  Tariq Woolen Seattle CB Texas-San Antonio 2022 5 $ 839,154
11  Jason Pinnock N.Y. Giants S Pittsburgh 2021 5 $ 817,224
12  Will Fries Indianapolis G Penn State 2021 7 $ 810,961
13  Brandon Stephens Baltimore S Southern Methodist 2021 3 $ 805,253
14  Deommodore Lenoir San Francisco CB Oregon 2021 5 $ 790,744
15  Camryn Bynum Minnesota S California 2021 4 $ 785,489
16  Tony Adams N.Y. Jets S Illinois 2022 UDFA $ 777,965
17  Terrel Bernard Buffalo LB Baylor 2022 3 $ 777,092
18  Rodney Thomas Indianapolis S Yale 2022 7 $ 769,445
19  Ben Bredeson N.Y. Giants G Michigan 2020 4 $ 764,130
20  DaRon Bland Dallas CB Fresno State 2022 5 $ 759,756
21  Nate Landman Atlanta LB Colorado 2022 UDFA $ 753,273
22  Quinn Meinerz Denver G Wisconsin-Whitewater 2021 3 $ 747,505
23  Dan Moore Pittsburgh T Texas A&M 2021 4 $ 740,319
24  Brock Purdy San Francisco QB Iowa State 2022 7 $ 739,795
25  Jonathon Cooper Denver LB Ohio State 2021 7 $ 738,916


UDFA – Undrafted free agent

 

COURTESY NFL COMMUNICATIONS

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