Packers’ tackle duo benefits from the NFL’s performance-based pay program

Left tackle Rasheed Walker and right tackle Zach Tom just received sizeable checks for their 2023 efforts.

On Tuesday, Sports Illustrated’s Bill Huber reported which Green Bay Packers were the biggest beneficiaries of the NFL’s performance-based pay program. For those unaware, the league pays out extra money to every single player who suited up for at least one snap during the 2023 season, with there being a sliding scale for the number of snaps played relative to how much a player took home during the year. For the 2023 campaign, the NFL allocated $393.8 million in performance-based pay, $12.3 million of which went to the Packers’ players. Of that $12.3 million, $8.1 million went to the top 20 beneficiaries on the squad.

Below are those top-20 players, as Huber stated, with the players being split into three groups: Rookie contract players still on the roster, veteran contract players still on the roster and players no longer on the roster. We’ll get into why these distinctions matter later.

Still on roster, rookie contract

• OL Zach Tom: $658,678
• OL Rasheed Walker: $603,830
• OL Josh Myers: $588,856
• CB Carrington Valentine: $518,888
• WR Romeo Doubs: $491,770
• DL TJ Slaton: $489,121
• LB Isaiah McDuffie: $471,780
• TE Tucker Kraft: $446,553
• EDGE Kingsley Enagbare: $408,342
• DL Karl Brooks: $310,755
• WR Dontayvion Wicks: $288,151
• WR Jayden Reed: $280,836
• S Anthony Johnson: $235,741

Still on roster, veteran contract

• CB Corey Ballentine: $380,094
• LB Eric Wilson: $252,402
• RB AJ Dillon: $239,276

No longer on the roster

• S Jonathan Owens: $671,433
• S Rudy Ford: $300,799
• OL Jon Runyan: $278,167
• TE Josiah Deguara: $227,953

The biggest beneficiaries, from a percentage standpoint, have to be tackles Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker, who collectively made $1.74 million in 2023 but will now receive an extra $1.28 million on top of that via this mechanic. If you’re wondering if this will impact the Packers’ cap moving forward, the answer is no, but you’re on the right path.

While the performance-based pay program is not accounted for via the salary cap, the NFL does have a proven performance escalator (PPE) that increases the cost of the final year of a player’s rookie contract based on how many snaps he’s been able to be on the field for over his first three seasons in the league. So there are similar but different processes.

This is why it’s important to note which returning rookie contract players received the most performance-based pay, as those are the players who are most likely to receive that salary bump that actually will be accounted for on the salary cap in the future.

According to Over the Cap, Josh Myers, Royce Newman, Tedarrell Slaton, Romeo Doubs, Zach Tom, Kingsley Enagbare, Rasheed Walker and Dontayvion Wicks are expected to qualify for “Level One PPE,” which means playing 60 percent of snaps over three years as a second-round pick or 35 percent of snaps as a third- through seventh-round pick. If a player can hit that average over his first three years in the league, his base salary is equal to an original draft round restricted free agent tender. For perspective, Newman, who is in his fourth and final year of his rookie deal, carries a $3.1 million salary in 2024 — a big jump from the $940,000 he made in 2023. This cuts both ways, though, as the money is not guaranteed, meaning that a release of Newman can now actually create significant cap space for the Packers — a possible unintended consequence of this mechanic.

Beyond the “Level One PPE” players, Tucker Kraft and Carrington Valentine are currently on pace to be “Level Two PPE” players, a threshold that is crossed when a rookie contract athlete plays 55 percent or more of the team’s snaps in every single year of his first three seasons in the NFL. Kraft and Valentine are coming off of their rookie seasons, so there’s a long road ahead of them to hit those marks, but a Level Two PPE adjustment comes with the base salary of the original draft round restricted tender plus an extra $250,000 added.

For the 2024 season, the only players who will receive the PPE salary adjustment are Myers, Newman and Slaton, who are all set to make $3.1 million in non-guaranteed money in the final season of their rookie contracts.