Young Jaguars DBs Rewarded With Performance-Based Pay

Two members of the Jaguars’ young defensive secondary got good news on Wednesday. Officials in the NFL and NFLPA offices have finalized their Microsoft Excel spreadsheets and handed out substantial performance-based-pay bonuses to cornerback Montaric Brown and safety Antonio Johnson.

Neither player was targeted as part of the massive roster reduction Jacksonville made on the eve of free agency because both are quietly important pieces both on defense and special teams. What is interesting, though, is how new general manager James Gladstone will use his abundance of draft capital to push players like Brown and Johnson.

Brown, who enters his fourth NFL season, earned a $976,637 bonus for his performance in 2024. That amount marked the league’s eighth-highest award in 2024. Johnson, meanwhile, earned the 15th-highest award, $872,633.

Drafted 222nd overall in 2022, or 40 players ahead of San Francisco quarterback Brock Purdy -- who routinely benefits from performance-based pay, Brown was a key starter for the Jaguars last season. He played in all 17 games with six tackles for loss, 75 total stops, eight passes defensed and an interception – picking off Sam Darnold in the end zone. Jacksonville wound up losing that defensive battle, 12-7, to the Vikings on Nov. 10 at EverBank Stadium.

The Arkansas product’s key contribution, however, was on special teams. A core player in the Jaguars’ kicking game, he logged 149 special-teams snaps in 2024.

Johnson got even more special-teams snaps, 246, last season. And like Brown, Johnson got plenty of playing time in the defensive secondary, starting eight games with 73 combined tackles, one for loss, and two passes defensed. As a rookie in 2023, Johnson posted two interceptions.

Jacksonville’s fifth-round selection (160th overall) in the 2023 draft out of Texas A&M, Johnson enters his third NFL season.

NFL players earned more than $452 million in performance-based pay on Wednesday. The program compensates players who outperform their salaries. Linebacker Jamien Sherwood, who just re-signed with the Jets, topped the group with $1,092,206 in additional earnings.

The program, which began in 2002, distributes money to players who see at least one regular-season snap and favors those who combine high snapcounts with low salary. The formula for distributing pay is derived from PBP Playtime (total regular-season snaps counting offense, defense and special teams) divided by PBP Compensation (the sum of regular-season salary, prorated signing bonus and incentives paid out).

The NFL and NFLPA then compare that figure to other players in an index and produce the per-player payouts.

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