The main reason for the Green Bay Packers’ recent success is the amount of draft picks the team has had. No one had more over the last three seasons, and finding cheap contributors in later rounds is probably the best aspect of general manager Brian Gutekunst’s job.
Eventually, though, comes the time to pay these pieces. And a part of that is the Proven Performance Escalator, an incentive that serves as a fourth-year salary escalator for players on rookie contracts not drafted in the first round.
Four Packers players drafted in 2022 will receive these bumps in 2025, and a fifth one might emerge to do so as well. Wide receiver Romeo Doubs, tackles Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker, and defensive end Kingsley Enagbare are set to earn the escalator. Guard Sean Rhyan has to play around 88% of the offensive snaps this season to do so, and he’s around 85%, so he has a shot playing every snap through the end of the regular season.
Zach Tom, by the way, has a chance to be selected to the Pro Bowl and jump from level 1 to level 3.
How the Proven Performance Escalator works
The Proven Performance Escalator has three levels, and all Packers players are in the first one.
Level 1: If the player participated in a certain percentage of snaps for two of his first three seasons, or averaged that through three years. The percentage is 60% for second-rounders or 35% for later picks. That’s where these four Packers players are — and Rhyan can reach 35% through his three seasons if he plays 88% this year. New salary: amount of the original draft round RFA tender.
Level 2: If the player participates in at least 55% of the team’s offensive/defensive snaps in each of his first three seasons. New salary: amount of the original draft round RFA tender + $250k.
Level 3: If the player is an original Pro Bowl selection in any of his first three seasons. New salary: amount of the second-round RFA tender (projected by OTC to be $5.217 million).
Right now, Doubs, Tom, Walker, and Enagbare are slated to make $1.1 million in 2025. With the escalator, each one will earn around $3 million in extra salary, which will represent a $12 million extra cap hit for the Packers. Sean Rhyan is slated to make $1.4 million, and it would be a slightly lower bump, but still significant for Green Bay.
Those salaries, though, are not fully guaranteed. Earlier this year, for example, the Packers refused to pay Royce Newman after he got the escalator. The parties agreed to a paycut, and Newman was eventually waived anyway.
In these five cases, the Packers would probably be more inclined to pay. Zach Tom and Rasheed Walker are even early extension candidates, and the new salary would be a part of the negotiations if that ends up being the case.
The Packers got an impressive class in 2022, even if the first-rounders have had questionable results. Now, it’s time to pay for it.
