The NFL announced performance-based pay distributions for the 2022 NFL season and Kansas City Chiefs second-year RG Trey Smith led the way for the team.
The league announced on Friday that NFL players are set to receive a whopping $336 million in performance-based for 2022. This is a benefit that is collectively bargained between the NFL and NFLPA to compensate players based on their playing time and salary.
Smith, a sixth-round draft pick out of Tennessee in 2021, played the fifth-highest percentage of offensive snaps in Kansas City in 2022. His 1,037 snaps earned him a 90.25% share of the team’s offensive snaps last season. As a result, he comes in at No. 20 in the NFL in terms of performance-based pay with over $663K earned.
Smith has often been considered the steal of the 2021 NFL draft and this is just more evidence supporting his case.
Former #Eagles safety Marcus Epps, who left in free agency for the #Raiders, led the NFL with a $880,384 performance-based pay distribution for 2022. pic.twitter.com/S9OiYxULBi
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 17, 2023
Former Eagles S Marcus Epps (now with the Las Vegas Raiders) was the top earner in the NFL this past season with over $880K in performance-based pay.
If you’re curious about how exactly performance-based pay is determined, here’s an explainer and chart from the NFL:
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.