Despite being eliminated during the Divisional Round of the playoffs, several Ravens players can rest easy knowing they’ve earned more money based on their 2014 performance. According to Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun, receiver Steve Smith will earn an extra $1MM in incentives, which were based on playing time, individual, and team performance. Linebacker Daryl Smith will also have another $1MM tacked onto his 2014 earnings, and he also hit an escalator that will increase his 2015 salary by $500K. Tight end Owen Daniels earned $755K through incentives, and center Gino Gradkowski will see a pay raise thanks to the proven performance escalator (explained here). Here are more cap-related notes from around the NFL…
- After an outstanding 2014 season that saw him record 14.5 sacks, Eagles linebacker Connor Barwin will earn a higher base salary in 2015 thanks to escalators in his contract. Per Adam Caplan of ESPN (Twitter link), Barwin hit all of his escalators, meaning he’ll make $5.5MM next year, a bump of $900K.
- Cowboys safety Barry Church will earn a $1MM raise on top of his scheduled 2015 salary, according to Todd Archer of ESPN.com, who writes that Church met a playing time threshold by seeing action on 85% of defensive snaps last season.
- Veteran Saints linebacker Curtis Lofton earned a $200K salary increase in each of the next two seasons thanks to an unknown escalator, per Mike Triplett of ESPN.com.
- As we head to the offseason, several teams are willing to offer high guarantees in order to sign highly-coveted players to reserve/futures deals. According to Brian McIntyre (via Twitter), the largest guarantees on reserve deals thus far belong to running back Ryan Williams (who signed a two-year contract with the Cowboys) and defensive lineman Lawrence Okoye, who inked a pact with the 49ers.
- The Cowboys will carry over $3.26MM in cap space into 2015, tweets Todd Archer of ESPN.com.