News came out on Wednesday that the Philadelphia Eagles would be resting starters in Week 18. That means Saquon’s hunt to break the NFL’s single-season rushing record is over for this year. He’s all but locked up the 2024 rushing title (223-yard performance by Derrick Henry) and a spot on the AP’s first-team All-Pro roster.
That All-Pro roster spot will earn Saquon a cool $500,000, and becoming a Pro-Bowler will also earn him another $250,000. That goes on top of the $500,000 he earned for getting 2,000 scrimmage yards.
Week 18 will be meaningful for a few players on the Eagles roster because it’s impossible to sit every starter. That means some starters will unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) have to play. There are 10 starters and starter-adjacent players with incentives and awards that they could hit with the snaps they get in Week 18.
There’s money on the line for a few players
This kind of stuff is important to pay attention to because Nick Sirianni has gone out of his way to get notable players to hit a benchmark in the past. In Week 18 of the 2021 season, he famously funneled the ball to DeVonta Smith early in the game so he could break the Eagles’ rookie record for receiving yards, and then immediately pulled him from the game.
The other reason to pay attention to this stuff is because you’re going to be watching this game anyway, so it might as well be moderately bearable.
The weird thing about looking at the incentives is the differences in the bonuses and how the requirements are different for each player. For example: Jordan Mailata and Landon Dickerson each get paid $250,000 for making the Pro Bowl and $500,000 for being All-Pro, but DeVonta Smith gets paid $500,000 and $1 million for the same thing.
Jalen Hurts has his own unique incentives that paint a picture of who he is almost perfectly. He’ll get $500,000 for winning the Super Bowl and $500,000 for being the NFL MVP. Even when he’s getting paid extra, it’ll be because of his chase to be the best.
None of those guys are going to be playing in this game, so those don’t really matter, but it’s still interesting. Some guys will be on the verge of hitting benchmarks and they will play.
Josh Sweat:
Sweat’s in a funky spot because he definitely could use the rest going into the postseason, but he’s decently close to hitting a big one: He’ll get $1 million if he gets 10 sacks this season ($1.5 million for 11, and $2 million for 12).
The thing is, he’s at eight sacks so far. He’s only ever had two sacks in a game six times in his seven-year career, most recently in Week 9 against the Jaguars. This is far from an easy thing to do, but he is capable of it. Especially when you consider that he’s going to be rushing against the Giants’ terrible offensive line. They’ve given up 48 sacks this year, 9.5 of which have come from edge rushers. It is doable, and even if he gets close Howie Roseman might still pay him regardless.
Sweat’s also a guy who would get the $500,000 and $1 million bonuses for Pro Bowl and All-Pro, respectively.
Chauncey Gardner-Johnson:
C.J.G.J. hit one of his incentives last week with his two interceptions; he’s getting paid $500,000 because he got six interceptions. That’s actually probably why everyone was cool with him stealing Quinyon Mitchell’s interception.
He can earn another $500,000 if he makes it to EITHER the Pro Bowl or All-Pro teams. He probably won’t be All-Pro, but he could make it to the Pro Bowl. Voting for the Pro Bowl is split evenly among fans, players, and coaches. So the problem is that a good chunk of the people can vote for him, hate him. That stinks.
He has the third most interceptions by a safety, a pick-six, a forced fumble, and five tackles for loss. He deserves the Pro Bowl nod, but having a strong showing in Week 18 would definitely help him, especially against a Giants team being quarterbacked by Drew Lock who has thrown four interceptions in the seven games he’s played this season.
The Eagles do have a lot of depth in the defensive backfield, so there’s a good chance C.J. doesn’t play on Sunday. We saw what happened to the defense without him when he got ejected in Week 16, and they can’t afford to let him get hurt in a meaningless game just to chase accolades and cash.
Others:
There are three players who don’t really have a shot at all about hitting their incentives. Dallas Goedert would get $250,000 if he is an All-Pro, but he hasn’t played enough games this season to even have a chance. Braden Mann would make $100,000 if he’s a Pro Bowl Punter. He’s good, but he’s nowhere near the Lion’s Jack Fox or even the Bears’ Tory Taylor.
The most fun/sickening player is Bryce Huff, who could have made some serious money this year if literally everything about his whole deal wasn’t absolutely terrible. If he had 12 sacks this season he would’ve made $500,000, 14 for $1 million, 16 for $1.5 million, and 18 for $2 million. He has 2.5 sacks.
On November 11, 1990, the Kansas City Chiefs’ Derrick Thomas had seven sacks and set the record for the most sacks in a game. Huff would just need to break that record by 2.5 to get his bonus…
He also had the $500,00 for Pro Bowl and $500,00 for All-Pro thing too… but, you know…
Quinyon Mitchell and Vic Fangio:
It’s not just about the incentives—Quinyon Mitchell is also in the running for Defensive Rookie of the Year. He probably won’t play, but if he does there is a path for him to jump Jared Verse for the award.
Vic Fangio was the Broncos head coach from 2019 to 2021. Drew Lock was one of his quarterbacks during that time. The problem is that Vic really doesn’t like Drew Lock (read this because it’s funny). The running theory is that it stemmed from the 2020 season when Drew didn’t wear a mask at a team meeting, which avalanched into a Week 12 game where Undrafted Rookie wide receiver Kindall Hinton was the starting quarterback.
You have to imagine that Vic wants to make Drew’s Sunday one of the worst days of his life. If/when he has some of his starters in the game, he’ll try to put them in the best positions to embarrass Drew. The best way to do that would be to make Drew throw an interception to a rookie cornerback… an interception that is returned for a touchdown and earns that rookie the Defensive Rookie of the Year.
That could happen. It probably won’t, but it could.
This would also be a great game for Vic to boost his chance of winning the Assistant Coach of the Year award. The Giants are a terrible team, but they are a professional football team, by definition only. Vic’s not a big ‘smile-guy’, but if he saw Jeremiah Trotter Jr. level Drew Lock from a blitz called out of spite and anger, we’d probably see a little bit of a smirk, if not tears of appreciation/laughter.
Yeah, it’s another meaningless Week 18 game, but there’s still something there to give it juice. Unfortunately, we’re juicing a lemon rind that’s been composting for the past five months. It’s just much more fun when the incentives are for offensive players to get receptions, yards, and touchdowns.