Brian Robinson Jr. is about to be a lot richer thanks to underrated NFL policy

Brian Robinson Jr. may not be a household name across the NFL universe, but he's a damn good player and is a major part of the Washington Commanders offense.

He's been through a lot, too. Namely, he was shot in the leg ahead of his rookie year and fortunately made a full recovery. He's about to finish up his third season, which also just so happens to be his best one, yet.

So it's awesome to see him earn a nice salary bump from the NFL's Proven Performance Escalator program. Because he's a former third-round pick that's played in 35% or more of the Commanders snaps in two of his first three years, Over the Cap projects him to receive a big raise in 2025. He qualifies for the Level One escalator, which bumps his initial salary of $1,392,942 to more than the projected Right of Refusal tender amount of $3.185 million. The Original Draft Round tender amount in 2024 is $3.116 million and will certainly go up, next year. Either way, we know it's a $1,792,058 raise, at minimum.

The NFL's PPE program is an underrated service that compensates young players for earning their way onto the field

Rookie contracts are nothing like they used to be when you had guys getting $50+ million deals off the bat. They're a lot more affordable, these days, so it's good to see the NFL somewhat "make up" for it, to an extent. All of the information below is from Over the Cap.

Robinson Jr. earned what is called a Level One PPE, which raises a player's base salary to that of the Original Draft Round RFA tender amount in the applicable year, or 110% of their base salary; whichever is higher. This is earned if a player plays a certain percentage of snaps over the course of their first three seasons or if they reach the mark in two of the three.

Second round picks are set at 60%, while third-seventh round picks are 35%. Robinson Jr. played 47.1% of snaps in 2023 and 42.8% in 2024, which qualifies him for the bump.

There are two more levels players can obtain if they hit the proper thresholds. Each level is its own raise, they don't "roll over" into one another:

• Level Two: This raises the base salary to the amount of the Original Round tender, plus $250,000. A player has to play at least 55% of snaps, each season, in all of his first three seasons in order to qualify.
• Level Three: This raises the base salary to the amount equal to the Second Round RFA tender, which is projected to be $5,217,000 in 2025. A player has to earn a Pro Bowl nod via the original ballot in one of his first three years in order to qualify.

Former fourth-rounder Percy Butler is also on track to hit a Level One PPE. He's not exactly locked in like Robinson Jr. just yet, but he should be able to hit the mark if he plays enough on Sunday.

Both raises would take from the Commanders' 2025 cap space, which is currently set at more than $102 million under a projected $272.5 million salary cap.