These Patriots Players Earned Largest Performance-Based Play Bonuses
Some big money for Big Mike
Mike Onwenu’s stellar rookie season earned the young offensive lineman a nice payday.
Onwenu earned the largest performance-based play bonus of any New England Patriots player for the 2020 season, according to data released Tuesday by the NFLPA and shared by Mike Garafolo.
The PBP system rewards players who play a large portion of their team’s snaps while carrying a relatively low base salary — players like Onwenu, a sixth-round rookie who started every game for New England and was on the field for 91.6 percent of the Patriots’ offensive snaps.
For that, Onwenu will receive a PBP bonus of $554,792, nearly equaling his 2020 base salary of $610,000.
Onwenu was one of New England’s most impressive players in 2020, starting games at right tackle and both guard spots and trailing only left guard Joe Thuney in offensive snaps played.
Other Patriots players receiving sizable bonuses include:
CB J.C. Jackson: $501,632
WR Jakobi Meyers: $388,794
OLB Chase Winovich: $366,927
TE Ryan Izzo: $363,560
LB Ja’Whaun Bentley: $353,497
FB Jakob Johnson: $316,120
Those players all had base salaries below $800,000 last season.
The Patriots player receiving the smallest PBP bonus is center Marcus Martin, who signed with the team in late December. He’ll get $591 after playing one special teams snap in Week 17 (plus another $2,839 for the five special teams snaps he played for the Detroit Lions earlier in the year).
It’ll be a while before these players see this extra dough, though. Due to financial losses resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the NFL deferred all PBP payouts until at least 2024, per Garafolo.
