Jan. 05--Chicago Bears center Roberto Garza, who was signed to a one-year extension the Friday before the regular season ended, will have to be on the field to max out his contract during his 15th season.
Garza's one-year contract is worth a maximum value of $1.5 million and included $75,000 in the form of a signing bonus that was applied to the team's 2014 salary cap. The deal includes $290,000 in incentives that will be determined by playing time. If he is on the field for 75 percent of the offense's snaps, he will collect the amount.
Garza, 35, made 12 starts this past season, missing time with a high ankle sprain, and fell just short of that threshold. Unofficially, he was on the field for 70.5 percent of the Bears' plays (746 of 1,058). The contract also includes weekly roster bonuses in season -- $8,750 each week he is on the 46-man active gameday roster for a total of $140,000.
Garza's contract for 2014 also was worth $1.5 million and was structured similarly. The difference this time is the playing-time incentive (in 2014, he had more money tied up in weekly roster bonuses).
Here is the contract breakdown:
$75,000 signing bonus (fully guaranteed)
$25,000 workout bonus
$970,000 base salary
$140,000 game-day roster bonuses ($8,750 each game)
$290,000 playing-time incentive
