There are a few other types of bonuses allowed in veteran NFL contracts:
Option bonus: Gives a team (or, at times, a player) the ability to exercise the current or future years of the contract by paying a bonus. Prorated over the life of the contract (like a signing bonus, up to a max of five seasons).
Largest option bonus in 2020: Carson Wentz ($30 million with the Eagles; must be exercised by March 27, or 2020 salary becomes $31.383 million and the remaining years on the contract void).
Workout bonus: Compensation for attending an agreed-upon percentage of the offseason workouts. No workout bonus can require participation in beyond 84.375 percent of the team’s scheduled workouts (i.e., a player can miss five of 32 scheduled workouts and still receive his bonus).
Largest workout bonuses in 2020: Za’Darius Smith ($750,000 with Packers).
Reporting bonus: Earned by reporting to team activities by a specified date. For example, Darrelle Revis had a $1 million reporting bonus in his 2010 contract with the Jets, as the team sought to avoid further training camp holdouts.
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