Green Bay’s Sean Rhyan just lost out on $2m because over two missed snaps. But he is far from the only football player to deal with contract quirks
As contract clauses go, this one is pretty painful: Packers guard Sean Rhyan missed out on $2m after falling two snaps shy of picking up a bonus. The NFL has a built-in bonus pool designed to reward late draftees who see the field early in their careers. One of those performance benchmarks is a player’s volume of snaps. If they cross the 35% mark, they receive a chunky bonus. But Rhyan fell two snaps shy of that mark last season, missing the chance to see his base salary more than double.
The performance escalator is one of the quirks of the league’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. With the CBA, rookie pay scale and hard salary cap, the NFL is typically a less chaotic contractual league than others in North America. There are none of the odd riders in players’ contracts – the unlimited sushi, 30-year contracts, or Springsteen guarantees – that litter other sports. Careers are short. Leverage is fleeting. The language is standardized. However, Rhyan’s situation is far from a one-off.
Bryant would be followed by a three-person security detail whenever he was away from the Cowboys’ training base.
He would be driven to and from practice by Cowboys personnel.
He would attend two mandated counselling sessions a week.
He was banned from drinking alcohol.
He was barred from attending strip clubs, given a midnight curfew, and only allowed to attend clubs where veteran Cowboys security staffers moonlighted as door staff.
