While NFL players and their agents work hard to get big contracts during free agency in March, another program exists to help some of the highest-performing but lowest-earning players get a little bit of extra cash. That is the Performance-Based Pay program, a collectively-bargained system that helps send more money to players who play well but are on low-value contracts.
The Green Bay Packers have seen many of their players cash in on this program over the last several years. One sure-fire way to
get consideration for this is to be a day-three draft pick who is still playing on a rookie contract but as a full-time starter. That’s exactly the type of player who this program is intended to help, and one such player who will be getting a nice bump in 2026 is safety Evan Williams.
Williams, a 4th-round pick in 2024, had a great finish to his rookie season and sustained that with a great sophomore campaign. In 2025, Williams played all but one regular season game, logging over 900 defensive snaps and adding another 130-plus on special teams. He was credited with 100 total tackles on the season and added three interceptions as he helped to solidify the safety position next to veteran Xavier McKinney.
As a result of the PBP formula and Williams’ playing time and contract, he will earn just over $1 million in bonus money under the program. That bonus is the 25th-highest in the NFL as a whole and the high mark among Packers players, according to a press release from the league on Monday. No other Packers were listed, as the release only announced the top 25 earners.
Meanwhile, the highest number in the NFL went to Nahshon Wright, the former Bears cornerback. Wright played last year on a league-minimum deal, but he played nearly every defensive snap last season. A free agent for 2026, Wright signed a one-year, $3.5 million fully guaranteed contract with the New York Jets last week. That deal included a $2 million signing bonus and he will now get to cash a bonus check for another $1.44 million this week thanks to the PBP program.
In each of the last two years, much of the Packers’ PBP bonus pool went to their offensive line. Both Rasheed Walker and Zach Tom were among the team’s biggest PBP earners for both 2023 and 2024,
PBP money is awarded to nearly any NFL player who plays at least one snap in a regular season game and is paid out as an immediate bonus rather than being added to a player’s base salary. Therefore, this additional compensation is not added to a team’s salary cap for the prior or upcoming year; it is instead treated as a player benefit under the collective bargaining agreement, with those benefits not being subject to salary cap considerations.
Keep in mind that the PBP program is different from the Proven Performance Escalator program, which also is a pathway for players drafted after the first round to add compensation. The PPE program increases a player’s base salary heading into the fourth year of a rookie contract, based on playing time escalators. Those salary increases are then reflected on the salary cap for the following season. Green Bay is expected to have four players reach the targets for the lower level PPE escalation in 2026: Tucker Kraft, Dontayvion Wicks, Karl Brooks, and Carrington Valentine.
