49ers' Brock Purdy, Cowboys' DaRon Bland Among NFL's Top Performance-Based Payouts
Timothy Rapp@@TRappaRT
Featured Columnist IVApril 1, 2024
Brock Purdy led the San Francisco 49ers to the Super Bowl. Dallas Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland led all players in interceptions (nine) and pick sixes (five).
Those efforts led to the pair earning performance-based payouts on Monday, joining a number of players around the league, per Tom Pelissero of NFL Network:
Tom Pelissero @TomPelisseroIn all, NFL players will receive $393.8 million in Performance-Based Pay for their performance during the 2023 season. It's a collectively bargained benefit that compensates all players based upon their playing time and salary levels, paying out close to $2.4 billion since 2002.
Other notable names included Seattle Seahawks cornerback Tariq Woolen, a 2022 Pro Bowler, and Niners cornerback Deommodore Lenoir, who started all 17 games last season and registered three interceptions.
Purdy, 24, threw for 4,280 yards, 31 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2023, completing 69.4 percent of his passes while taking just 28 sacks. The Niners went 12-4 in his starts and eventually reached the Super Bowl, coming up short in overtime against Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs.
Because he famously was just a seventh-round pick in the 2022 NFL draft, Purdy signed a four-year, $3.7 million contract that will pay him just $985,000 in base salary in 2024. He'll eventually get a lucrative extension, but for now the 49ers have arguably the biggest bargain in football at quarterback.
Bland, 24, not only set the NFL record for most interceptions returned for touchdowns in a season last year, he did so by Thanksgiving. He was an absolute menace, and like Purdy he's an incredible bargain—in 2024, the former fifth-round pick will earn an identical base salary to the Niners' quarterback, though he holds the advantage in signing bonuses ($76,197 compared to Purdy's $19,252).
He'll pair with Trevon Diggs—who missed most of the 2023 season with a torn ACL—next season to give the Cowboys one of the most opportunistic pairs of cornerbacks in football.
Both Purdy and Bland are incredible bargains, though Monday's performance-based pay distributions nearly doubled their 2023 earnings.