The NFL established a system in 2002 to reward players who out-perform their contracts in a given year.
The performance based pay program primarily serves to supplement players who are earning at or near the league minimum but who contributed to their teams in a way that is positively disproportionate to their salaries. For the 2015 season, the league’s 32 teams divided up a pool of $3.802 million to the players.
Denver Broncos’ center Matt Paradis was the big winner this year after helping the Broncos win a Super Bowl title, as the second-year player earned a bonus of $391,647.