The headlines regarding contract reporting in the NFL generally revolves around the superstars of the league signing for generational wealth when their initial rookie deal is about to end.
Yet, for the life of a third-round pick in the league trying to secure a roster spot… other ways to earn a raise are built into the NFL collective bargaining agreement.
In a stroke of bad luck, one Green Bay Packers offensive lineman finished just short of a seven-figure raise at the conclusion of his third season in the NFL.
Packers G Sean Rhyan Just Misses Out On a $2 Million Raise
If you go back through all of the missed performance based financial incentives for NFL players throughout the years, there are likely a plethora of big paychecks that never got deposited into a player’s bank account due to just missing out on the qualifiers for triggering the bonus.
Yet, when ESPN NFL Reporter Rob Demovsky reported about Packers G Sean Rhyan missing out on a $2 million dollar raise by just two snaps on Tuesday… one can’t help but feel a little bad for the UCLA product.
Demovsky cited the league’s collective bargaining agreement when explaining how Rhyan just missed out on qualifying for this incentive by writing, “Had he been on the field for two additional plays at any point in his first three NFL seasons (2022-24), Rhyan would have qualified for the proven performance escalator. That would have meant his 2025 base salary would have jumped to $3.406 million rather than the $1,363,571 he will earn under his original rookie deal.”
Rhyan became a starter last year and played the vast majority of snaps available to him in 2024. Unfortunately, this financial incentive is accumlated by how many snaps a player is on the field through all of his first three seasons in the league.
Demovsky added context to this by writing, “It states that if a player selected in Rounds 3-7 (Rhyan was a third-round pick in 2022) “participated in a minimum of 35% of his Club’s offensive or defensive plays in any two of his first three regular season or participated in a ‘cumulative average’ of at least 35% of his Club’s offensive or defensive plays over his first three regular seasons” then he would qualify for the raise, which is essentially equal to what a restricted free agent tender would be the upcoming season.”
Rhyan’s limited role in 2023 and no snaps played from his rookie year back in 2022 led to him finishing tragically short of a significant raise.
This is the type of news that would likely be enough to ruin the rest of anyone’s day, but there is some room for optimism based on how the Packers pulled out the checkbook this offseason with regard to signing a starting caliber guard by the name of Aaron Banks this offseason — which was a four-year deal worth up to $77 million with $27 million being guaranteed.
If Rhyan can build off of the best year of his young career entering the final year of his rookie deal, then Rhyan could earn a similar contract in the very near future.
