Seahawks Riq Woolen among top performance bonus recipients

Every year the NFL awards performance-based bonuses based on playing time, and the Seahawks second year cornerback was among the biggest benefactors for his 2023 performance.

The offseason continues to move forward, as on Monday the calendar flipped to April. That means it is officially draft month, which brings with it hype and hope for the future.

In recent seasons the Seattle Seahawks have found success in the NFL Draft, adding several young players who could be potential long term starters in the seasons to come. Those names include not just the bigger names from Day 1 of the draft, such as left tackle Charles Cross, cornerback Devon Witherspoon and Jaxon Smith-Njigba, but also the unexpected starters found on Day 2 and Day 3. In particular, the Hawks hit gold with their selection of Riq Woolen in the fifth round in 2022, and now Woolen has hit gold when it comes to the performance-based pay bonuses for the 2023 season.

Woolen earned the tenth largest bonus amount of any player this past season, so will receive $839,154 on top of the $870,000 base salary he earned last season. The formula the NFL uses to determine these bonuses is based on snaps played relative to the amount a player earns on their contract. Thus, a player on a rookie contract like Woolen who plays the overwhelming majority of snaps for their team will collect a significant check, while a higher paid player seeing the field for the same number of snaps would receive a much smaller bonus payout.

For those curious, the amounts the players earn through this system do not count against the salary cap, and are a portion of the revenues the CBA allocates to the players outside of the cap.