The NFL announced on Monday more than $500 million in player bonuses for the 2025 season.

NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport shared the news on Monday, revealing that $542 million in player performance bonuses are being paid out.

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“The NFL announced performance based pay, where players will receive more than $542M based on their performance. This is a collectively bargained benefit that compensates players based on their playing time and salary levels,” he announced.

Bears cornerback Nahshon Wright and Browns safety Ronnie Hickman led the way, earning $1.4 and $1.2 million, respectively.

The system was implemented during the 2002 season as part of the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement with the NFL Players Association.

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Here’s how it works

“Under the Performance-Based Pay program, a fund is created and used as a supplemental form of player compensation based upon a comparison of playing time to salary. Players become eligible to receive a bonus distribution in any regular season in which they play at least one official down. In general, players with higher playtime percentages and lower salaries benefit most from the pool,” the NFL explained.

“Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a player index (“Index”). To calculate the Index, a player’s “PBP Playtime” (defined as the player’s regular season total plays played on offense, defense and special teams, divided by the number of plays in which the player with the most total combined plays participated on that team) is divided by his “PBP Compensation” (defined as each player’s regular season full salary, including his prorated portion of signing bonus, and earned incentives). Each player’s Index is then compared to those of all other players on his team to determine the amount of his Performance-Based Pay. If a player’s full season salary is less than the CBA Minimum Salary for a player with seven or more Credited Seasons, additional salary will be imputed to that player so that his salary is equal to the Minimum Salary for a player with seven or more Credited Seasons (i.e., $1.21M for the 2024 season). By imputing a minimum salary of $1.21 million, a slightly higher percentage of the pool is directed to high-performing veteran players whose salaries exceed $1.21 million, but are not among the highest in the League, as contemplated by the formula. This imputation of salary is solely for the purpose of calculating distributions from the pool and does not affect the actual salary paid to the player under his contract.”

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Congrats to the players who’ve received big-time bonuses.

This story was originally published by The Spun on Mar 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the NFL section. Add The Spun as a Preferred Source by clicking here.