Jason Pierre-Paul entered the 2015 league year with a simple contractual situation. He had a one-year offer that paid him $14.813 million. It worked out to $871,350 per week.
Things became considerably more complicated after July 4, when a fireworks accident claimed the index finger on Pierre-Paul’s right hand and damaged much of the rest of it. Seven weeks -- and $6.099 million in salary lost forever later -- Pierre-Paul has a contract that allows him to earn the full $8.713 million that he would have made under the franchise tag for the next 10 weeks of the season.
PFT has finally gotten a look at the full contract, and here’s the breakdown.
Officially, he has a base salary of $2.55 million, but that’s based on 17 weeks. With 10 weeks left, he’ll receive $1.5 million, fully guaranteed.
The rest of the $7.213 million comes from a variety of other payments. There are $214,286 in per-game roster bonuses; if he appears in seven games, he gets an extra $1.5 million. Also, he can make $863,527 if he has 7.5 total sacks, $550,000 playing-time incentives per game (a total of $3.85 million), and $50,000 for each half-sack up to 10 sacks, for another $1 million.
And here’s the key for Pierre-Paul. If he gets to 10 sacks in 2015 (regardless of the number of games in which he plays), he’ll get $7.213 million on top of his $1.5 million salary, giving him a maximum of $8.7213 million.
In other words, 10 sacks gets him paid like he would have been paid under the franchise tag. For anything less than 10 sacks, his pay will be determined by playing time, per-game roster bonuses, total sacks, and whether he gets to 7.5 sacks.
It remains to be seen whether Pierre-Paul can get 10 sacks, one sack, or anything in between. The first clear photo of his hand has emerged, showing a portion of his middle finger missing, a swollen and unnatural ringer finger, and a mangled thumb in the background.
The contract is structured under the assumption that Pierre-Paul will appear in seven games, after a two-week roster exemption during which he’ll be paid his base salary and a Week 11 bye. So he needs 10 sacks in seven games.
By the way, Pierre-Paul has never had 10 sacks in any seven-game stretch of his career.
