After Sunday’s game against the Chicago Bears, contract incentives will be locked in. If you performed well enough in certain areas, there is financial compensation in it for the players.
Depending on what the milestone is, it would be determined as either likely to be earned or unlikely to be earned. Ones that are deemed likely to be earned are counted towards that season’s salary cap and if they are earned when they are unlikely, they count towards the next season’s salary cap.
This Minnesota Vikings team has multiple players that can earn more money by hitting different incentives.
Patrick Peterson
Peterson has a chance to earn a lot of money from now until the rest of the season.
- Peterson needed to play at least 75% of snaps to trigger a $333,000 bonus for making the playoffs. He has currently played in 97.8% of snaps.
- He can increase it in two ways. It goes up to $666,000 if he plays 75% of snaps in a division playoff win and up to $1 million if he plays in at least 75% of snaps in the NFC Championship Game.
Za'Darius Smith
Smith has a chance at two incentives if he improves on his current total of 10 sacks.
- If Smith gets to 10.5 sacks, he will collect $750,000.
- If Smith gets to 12.5 sacks, he will collect $1 million.
Danielle Hunter
Hunter’s incentives aren’t bonuses for this year, but rather escalators to his base salary for 2023. He currently has 10 sacks and a higher total will get him that escalator.
- If he gets to 13 sacks, his base salary spiked $500,000 next season.
- If he somehow gets to 15 sacks, it escalates $1 million.
Dalvin Tomlinson
Tomlinson’s escalators are similar to both Smith and Hunter’s in that they are tied to sacks. Unlike the other two, his sack total is a lot less at 4.0 sacks. He currently has 2.5 sacks and will need 1.5 sacks to get $250,000.
Dalvin Cook
Cook has a chance to make quite a bit of money added to the base salary of 2025. Everytime he reaches 1,200 yards or 60 receptions in a season, he gets an extra $300,000 added to his 2025 salary. Cook only needs 64 yards to hit that escalator on Sunday afternoon.
