Patriots Reportedly Reward Veteran Defender With Late-Season Bonus

The Patriots did one of their longest-tenured players a solid on Saturday.

Ahead of Sunday’s season finale against the New York Jets at Gillette Stadium, New England converted a $500,000 incentive in defensive tackle Lawrence Guy’s contract to a guaranteed bonus, according to a report from ESPN’s Field Yates.

“Patriots DT Lawrence Guy has an incentive worth $500K for playing 45% of the snaps this season; he is currently at 45.57%,” Yates wrote on the X platform. “The team removed the incentive and instead converted it into a bonus, guaranteeing Guy that money and preventing a scenario where he missed out on the money by just a few snaps.”

Guy has been with the Patriots since 2017, making him one of the few remaining holdovers from New England’s last Super Bowl team. Only special teamer Matthew Slater, center David Andrews, long snapper Joe Cardona and cornerback Jonathan Jones predate his tenure in Foxboro, Mass.

The 33-year-old former team captain has appeared in every game this season and is part of a Patriots run defense that leads the NFL in yards allowed per carry (3.19). If that mark holds through Week 18, it would be the lowest by any NFL team since the 2014 Detroit Lions (3.17).

Guy has one year remaining on his Patriots contract. His salary for the 2024 season is not guaranteed.