Jamaree Salyer gets huge performance-based bonus after rookie season

Former Georgia offensive lineman Jamaree Salyer is being rewarded for a standout rookie season. The Los Angeles Chargers took him in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft but his overall pay from the season is going to be much higher than that.

The NFL announced performance-based bonuses on Friday where Salyer was among the top 25 players in the league. He comes in at No. 17 overall with a bonus of $695,838. According to Spotrac.com, Salyer’s base salary in 2022 was less than $10,000 more than that at $705,000

How performance-based pay works per the NFL…

“Under the Performance-Based Pay program, a fund is created and used as a supplemental form of player compensation based on 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. 

“Performance-Based Pay is computed by using a player index (“Index”). To produce 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 of the player with the most total combined plays on that team) is divided by his “PBP Compensation” (defined as regular season full salary, prorated portion of signing bonus, earned incentives). Each player’s Index is then compared to those of the other players on his team to determine the amount of his Performance-Based Pay.”

“If a player’s base salary is less than the Minimum Salary of a player with seven or more Credited Seasons, then player’s base salary will be imputed to be equal to the Minimum Salary of a player with seven or more Credited Seasons (i.e., $1.120M for the 2022 season). By imputing a minimum salary of $1.120 million, a slightly higher percentage of the pool is directed to high-performing veteran players whose salaries exceed $1.120 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.”

Salyer saves the Charger’s season per head coach…

Salyer started 14 games at left tackle and played in all 17 despite coming off the board with the 195th overall pick. On the Tuesday before the start of the 2023 NFL Scouting Combine, Chargers head coach Brandon Staley recalled what went into that pick and gave Salyer a great deal of credit.

“Last year, my favorite story probably from my first two years is we picked Jamaree Salyer in the sixth round. This guy ends up saving our season,” Staley said on The NFL Network. “I spoke at Kirby Smart’s clinic at Georgia last year and they had a million guys coming out and he does a great job. Jamaree is a guy we really loved in the draft process. Kind of the rounds are going and you know, there’s some stuff about his medical history and stuff like that but we love this player.

“We’re getting there in the sixth round and I call Kirby Smart on the phone and I’m like, ‘hey man, Kirby, we need to talk.’ Just trying to find out for Tom and Joe and he says, ‘Brandon, I promise you, this guy is the real deal. Sure enough, we pick him and he has a fantastic season and we probably picked him two or three rounds too late but better late than never. But it’s one of those things where you’re on the clock and you’re trusting the relationships that you’ve built with people and you’re getting that information in real time. For us to go pick him, it was a great moment for the Chargers.”