This article refers specifically to OTC’s final projection for the 2025 NFL Draft’s compensatory picks. For details on the basics and methodology of projecting compensatory picks in general, please reference this article. Note that this projection does not include compensatory picks awarded via 2020 Resolution JC-2A.

To understand how this projection is generated for each team, please reference the compensatory pick cancellation charts here.

The Projection

This draft, I am projecting that there will be 34 regular compensatory picks generated from the typical netting process. However, exactly 32 picks must be awarded under typical circumstances. This means that the two comp picks in excess of 32, for the New York Jets and Denver, will not be awarded, although the official release will typically acknowledge that the teams were otherwise eligible for the picks.

In recent seasons, the NFL Management Council has released the list of compensatory picks the week before the start of the new league year, which this season is March 12. Although it could hypothetically be released at any time after the Super Bowl, it is most likely to be released sometime between March 3 and 7.

Cutoff Projections

The most difficult part of projecting the compensatory picks is accurately identifying where the cutoffs lie between each rounds, and where the cutoff for qualifying as a Compensatory Free Agent (CFA) is. That is because the larger subset of the leaguewide players of which the smaller subset of compensatory free agents are judged against is never the same size, and requires accurately tracking roster transactions for thousands of players–a feat that will always have a margin of error. The key number that determines these cutoffs is, per Appendix V, Paragraph 2(a) of the CBA, is the number of “all other League players on rosters at the conclusion of the regular season”.

What exactly defines “all other League players on rosters at the conclusion of the regular season” has long been mysterious. But at long last, a key missing piece of the puzzle has been discovered that could finally provide a regularly accurate estimate of this number. Per a source that OTC considers reliable, in order to be included among the number of leaguewide players, a player not only has to be on a roster for Week 18, but also must have been on any NFL roster for at least 10 games. A player appears to be considered “on a roster” if he is on the 53 player roster (active or inactive), is elevated from the practice squad, or is on a reserve list (Injured Reserve being the most common). A week spent on the practice squad without elevation does not count.

This additional rule is likely a holdover from the compensatory formula before the 2020 CBA. Before then, compensatory free agents were also subject to the 10 game rule in order to qualify. However, this was changed in the 2020 CBA, likely due to multiple teams the season before abruptly cutting CFAs that would have cost them a comp pick.

After going through the list of players on rosters on Week 18, and removing those who did not meet the 10 game threshold, this provided an estimate of 1,967 players, and is the number that is used for the above projection. If that number is close to accurate, here is where the cutoffs would lie:

Players On The Cutoff Bubbles

I consider myself very fortunate that I have been informed of this additional 10 game threshold for this draft’s projection, because otherwise this would be one of the most challenging projections that I have had to do. That is because there are an unusually high number of players that are on the bubble of qualifying as compensatory free agents. This is due to this cutoff being close to $3 million APY, which is a round and popular amount to give to free agents.

While it is my hope that my projection of where the cutoffs lie is correct, there is enough of a margin of error that the players that are close to them may fall on the opposite side of where I have them projected. In most cases, if I’m wrong it means that the team in question will still get a comp pick for that player, but that it may be in a round higher or lower. But in a few cases (those are bolded), it could change cancellations, possibly taking away or greatly devaluing a projected comp pick—or possibly adding or greatly upgrading a comp pick.

3rd/4th

• Projected 3rd/4th cutoff: #98
• Carlton Davis (Detroit => New England): #100

4th/5th

• Jevon Holland (Miami => New York Giants): #192
• DJ Reed (New York Jets => Detroit): #196
• Projected 4th/5th cutoff: #196

5th/6th

• Projected 5th/6th cutoff: #295
• Kevin Zeitler (Detroit => Tennessee): #298
• Jourdan Lewis (Dallas => Jacksonville): #300

6th/7th

• Joe Flacco (Indianapolis => Cleveland & Cincinnati): #491
• Projected 6th/7th cutoff: #491

7th/Qualifying

• Chuma Edoga (Dallas => Jacksonville): #667
• Azeez Ojulari (New York Giants => Philadelphia): #669
• Ifeatu Melifonwu (Detroit => Miami): #674
• Eric Wilson (Green Bay => Minnesota): #675
• Brandin Echols (New York Jets => Pittsburgh): #676
• Solomon Thomas (New York Jets => Dallas): #680
• Tremon Smith (Denver => Houston): #685
• Deatrich Wise (New England => Washington): #688
• Projected 6th/7th cutoff: #688
• JK Dobbins (Los Angeles Chargers => Denver): #693
• Nick Westbrook-Ihkine (Tennessee => Miami): #694
• Tyler Conklin (New York Jets => Los Angeles Chargers): #695
• Jacob Martin (Chicago => Washington): #702
• Cooper Rush (Dallas => Baltimore): #703

Qualifying/Valuation Questions

The contract that JK Dobbins signed with the Broncos on June 11 is unusual because it is a rare case of a player eligible to become a compensatory free agent despite being signed after the normal cutoff date on the Monday after the draft. This is due to the Chargers playing a UFA tender on him in order to preserve his compensatory free agent potential.

But it is additionally unusual due to a new provision that Denver put into his contract with regard to his per game roster bonuses of a total of $680,000. In order to earn any of them, no matter how many games he played, he or the Broncos also had to meet at least one of ten metrics. This caused all of his per gamers to be classified as Not Likely To Be Earned. With the Broncos tying for the best record in the league and now just one game away from playing in the Super Bowl, the team met that metric easily for Dobbins.

Dobbins played 10 games in the regular season before suffering a Lisfranc injury that sidelined him until perhaps this upcoming AFC Championship Game. This means that he earned $400,000 of the per gamers. In addition to his base salary of $1.338 million and a signing bonus of $727,000, Dobbins also earned a $255,000 incentive for rushing 700 yards that also needed one of many metrics that included the same improvement in Broncos wins. Thus, at the very least, his APY under the compensatory formula will be $2.72 million.

The question is how the compensatory formula will judge the Not Likely To Be Earned $280,000 in per gamers that was indeed not earned. There are two contradictory clauses in Appendix V, Paragraph 2(a) on this matter, emphasis mine:

A player’s Gross Salary shall include: […] (d) roster bonus (including per-game bonuses, which shall count in full)

A player’s Gross Salary shall also include: (a) official performance incentives […] that are earned by the player in the first League Year of the contract, or that are considered “likely to be earned”

The remaining $280,000 were considered incentives that were neither earned or Likely To Be Earned, which would reject them from counting under the second clause. But they were also per game roster bonuses, which would qualify them under the first clause.

To account for the situation that casts more doubt on whether Dobbins will qualify as a CFA, I am projecting that the first clause will override the second, and that Dobbins’s APY will be at that key number of $3 million, which draws him very close to the qualification bubble that will be consequential for both the Broncos and Chargers.

Possible Altering Scenarios

• Baltimore
  • If Cooper Rush qualifies, Baltimore will not get a 7th for Tre’Davious White.
• Dallas
  • If Chuma Edoga qualifies and Solomon Thomas and Cooper Rush do not qualify, or if all three players qualify, Dallas will get a 6th for Rico Dowdle.
• Denver
  • If JK Dobbins qualifies, Denver will not get a 7th for Javonte Williams.
• Detroit
  • If Ifeatu Melifonwu does not qualify, Detroit will only be eligible for a net value 7th round comp pick that will not make the 32 pick limit.
  • If Ifeatu Melifonwu qualifies and DJ Reed’s contract is valued in the 5th round, Detroit will get a 3rd or 4th for Carlton Davis instead of a 5th or 6th for Kevin Zeitler.
• Los Angeles Chargers
  • If JK Dobbins qualifies and Tyler Conklin does not qualify, the Los Angeles Chargers will get a 6th for Kristian Fulton.
• Miami
  • If Ifeatu Melifonwu and Nick Westbrook-Ikhine do not qualify, Miami will get a 4th or 5th for Jevon Holland.
• Minnesota
  • If Eric Wilson does not qualify, Minnesota gets a 5th for Daniel Jones.
• New York Jets
  • If Brandin Echols, Solomon Thomas, and Tyler Conklin all do not qualify, the New York Jets will not get a 5th for Morgan Moses.
• Philadelphia
  • If Azeez Ojulari does not qualify, Philadelphia gets a 6th for Isaiah Rodgers.
• Washington
  • If Deatrich Wise does not qualify, Washington will get a 6th for Dante Fowler.

Visualizing Possible Outcomes

Finally, due to the numerous outcomes that could take place, I thought I’d try something new this draft, and display 20 possibilities, based upon what the leaguewide number could be from the range of historical extremes from 1,886 to 2015. This is a large graphic, so I’m sticking it at the bottom of the page for reference. We’ll see if any of these 20 become the actual results.

With Dante Moore making the decision to go back to college for his senior year I wanted to just look at what the risks could be with making that decision.

Making it in the NFL is difficult. It doesn’t matter who drafts you, how great you were in college, how great your combine or pro day numbers were. It is really hard to make it in the NFL. Every year we see countless “can’t miss” prospects completely miss in the NFL. The big benefit for those who miss is if they increase their draft stock they land relatively lucrative fully guaranteed rookie contracts and receive more and more opportunities to either start for the team who drafted them or salvage their career with another team who thinks better coaching will get the job done.

Risking draft positioning is never a good thing if you feel you have it secured near the top. The threat of playing poorly in a final year in college exists. The threat of injury exists. NIL money is a big improvement for the college athlete but it still pales in comparison to what you will earn as a top pick in the NFL draft. Because the draft is slotted there isn’t much you can do to really improve your earnings with a great year the way you could pre 2011 all you really can do is hold your draft contract when you are already projected to go highly.

How much does draft positioning help a QB? Here is a look at the median earnings, inflated by the salary cap, for all QBs taken in the NFL between 2011 and 2019 sorted by round.

These numbers are skewed by small samples and numbers can be lower if a round is dominated by players selected mainly from 2017 to 2019, but you can certainly see the trends here. Being selected high is generally a golden ticket. The worst performers were Jake Locker and Josh Rosen both slightly over $28 million. The next worst was Blaine Gabbert, generally considered a bust who was able to use the draft status to get up to about $52 million. RGIII was at $68M while Mitchell Trubisky is $74 million.

My guess is the average of the rest of round 1 and the entire round 2 numbers are the real numbers for the non top 10 status. The bottom here was Johnny Manziel at $11 million and he didn’t even earn his guaranteed rookie contract because he was immature. Paxton Lynch is next at $15 million. Round 2 had Christian Hackenberg at $4.3 million and DeShone Kizer at $6.3 million.

Round 3 sees us drop over $18 million and then $5.4 million for round 4. Round 5 had a little bounce to nearly $8 million while round 6 and 7 did not have a lot of success. UDFA’s are often quickly in and out.

This doesnt mean that where you are drafted defines your upside. Russell Wilson and Kirk Cousins are the top two earners among all of the QBs in this timeframe and were not picked anywhere near round 1 but they were the exceptions. Like I said above. Making it in the NFL is tough but that rookie contract locks in nearly $50 million for those top picks and basically covers a lot of financial ground. The soft factor of getting to hang around to bring out that potential for top picks is also a real thing.

Now maybe Moore was not going to be selected in the top 5. He may have been advised that teams were not as hot for him as the draft experts currently are. That is a totally different scenario if it is the case, but if he was a lock to go somewhere in the top 5 this is a real risky financial decision on his end. Hopefully it works out for him and he gets selected near the top of the draft next year, but this is a big risk and to play it off like it isn’t because he might get drafted by the Raiders or Jets just isn’t based on any historical evidence or any real idea of how contracts have worked out in the NFL.

With the regular season finished, let’s take a look once again at a list of players who could see their contracts terminated or negatively altered in the leadup to the start of the next league year. Looking at the list of pending unrestricted free agents coming from contracts that are expiring is regularly a useful starting point, but as we all know, more players will become available free agents to sign by being cut from their previous teams.

This list is an attempt to add some visibility on which players could be cut in the coming months. The metrics used are OTC’s estimation of contract fate, and the regular season OTC Valuation metric from 2025 when compared to the league median, to try to forecast a more accurate picture.

As always, it is stressed that most players on this list will likely not be cut. There are many mitigating factors as to why players show up on this list. One of course is injury, particularly to players who missed most of the season–although it can also be an aggravating factor if the team determines that injury has made the player unreliable on his contract. Quality of roster depth at the player’s position is another. Teams are also always willing and able to break the trends of contract fate and keep players they think will be helpful for next season’s roster. Common sense needs to be applied as to which players on this list are unlikely to be cut, even if it’s informative to see them on the list.

With that, this list is built from the players who:

• Are due a minimum of $4 million in cash for 2025.
• Have a negative contract fate greater than 50%.
• Are within the top 100 in players with the worst OTC valuation above median starter, which is defined in OTC’s explainer of the valuation diamond.

Breakdown by team

Here are the number of players each team has on this list:

• 9: Cardinals
• 7: Vikings, Commanders
• 4: Panthers, Dolphins, Packers, Browns, Bears, Giants, Titans
• 3: Patriots, Broncos, Chargers, Chiefs, Jaguars, Falcons, Saints, Texans, 49ers, Colts, Rams
• 2: Seahawks, Steelers, Jets, Ravens, Raiders, Cowboys
• 1: Bills, Buccaneers, Bengals, Lions
• 0: Eagles

While it’s useful to see the quantity of contracts each team has to work with in this regard as a measure of how many players they may need to address contracts with, this is also incomplete without knowing how much they are budgeted to pay these players for 2026. What also may inform decisions is how much effective cap space teams have to operate with for next season.

Therefore, the graph below is a scatterplot of teams with the amount of non-guaranteed salary they have on the books toward these 100 players for 2026 versus their 2026 effective cap space. The green lines represent the median in both metrics.

The teams in the upper left quadrant have plenty of cash to burn in 2026 if they so choose, and also have low money tied up in players that did not meet starter median performance according to OTC’s valuation metric. Some of these teams might still make skill based cuts, but may also not have a burning need to do so.

The teams in the lower left quadrant do not have much cap wiggle room but also have very few contracts that are in serious question. These are teams who for most of them would be expected to stay largely committed to their rosters for 2026.

Teams in the top right quadrant have plenty to spend, but could also stand to turn over a few high expenditure spots on their roster. Never rule out any of these teams making skill based cuts regardless of their current finances, but the pressure to make those cuts is lower.

The teams in the lower right quadrant are the ones to focus on. They have tighter cap situations, but could remedy that quickly with renegotiations of contracts–either negatively via cutting players or demanding pay cuts from them, or in a mildly positive manner by restructuring their salaries. It is this cluster where the lion’s share of action will likely take place.

Teams of note

The Commanders and Vikings are the teams of note with the most money showing up on the list, even while they reside in opposing quadrant corners. They both followed the typical book of going in heavy on veteran talent after having successful seasons after drafting a rookie quarterback high. But both had very disappointing seasons this time around, and there should be questions as to whether those veteran investments remain worth it.

The decisions of whether to cut or restructure will be more urgent for the Vikings given the cap dollars they need to clear. But another way that they diverge is that the Commanders also have the highest number of snaps entering free agency. There could be major roster churn just on those grounds alone, even if they don’t need or want to cut other players under contract.

The Cardinals are right in between the above two teams in cap space, with less money showing up on the list, but they also have the highest number of players on the list. Kyler Murray is not one of those players, but with rumors that he could be on the outs in Glendale, along with a new coaching staff on the way, considerable roster churn could also be on the way.

The Dolphins are similar to the Cardinals in that they are also making a coaching change, and may also have a change at quarterback away from Tua Tagovailoa–also not on this list. However, the majority of the money that shows up in this list is in one player: Tyreek Hill, who suffered a devastating knee injury bringing serious doubt on any return to the field. Parting ways with Hill will address the lion’s share of Miami’s notability here, even if more change could be on the way.

The Browns’ high amount of money on the chart above does not include Deshaun Watson, despite his presence as #1 on the list, as his contract is infamously fully guaranteed. Regardless of what they end up doing with him, they’ll have to find a way to balance one more season worth of wasted cap dollars and cash in order to make their ledger for 2026 fit.

Finally, I would not look too much into the Chiefs’ placement at the very bottom of the chart. They have a lot of salary due to Patrick Mahomes and Chris Jones that are not going anywhere that they can and will restructure to get into compliance for 2026.

Every year crazy stuff is said about the draft, but the discussions currently going on about college players, who are projected to go in the top 5, returning to school because of the possibility of being drafted by a bad organization is the craziest thing and it is amazing to see it gaining steam.  The main discussion surrounds Oregon QB Dante Moore needing to avoid the New York Jets because of the Jets terrible history and opt to return to Oregon and “save” his career.

The discussions about these topics are completely uninformed about the reality of NFL contracts and earning potential in the NFL. At best they are rooted in ancient history when contracts were not slotted for rookies and certain positions were not drafted as often making it financially viable for players, specifically QBs and RB’s, to consider going back to school to land with a team that might present a better situation and more importantly roll over and play dead at the negotiating table.

If Moore is selected by the Jets this year he will receive a contract that is worth somewhere in the ballpark of $52 million with $35 million being paid this year. This contract will be fully guaranteed the minute he signs it. The clock immediately begins ticking on a contract extension as soon as he enters the NFL and he would then be extension eligible starting in 2029.

There are a handful of outcomes that we usually see for highly drafted players. The best case is that they are perceived as a good player and they wind up signing a record setting or close to record setting contract. Examples of this type of player are anyone from Tua to Josh Allen.

The second is that they are a below average player and considered a bust, but much of that bust label is attributed to bad situations. Another team thinks they can “fix” the player and they take a shot at that player. This group consists of Justin Fields, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, etc…

The final group are those simply considered a bust with limited upside. More often than not they were given up on by a good team and considered a reach in the draft (think a player like Trey Lance) or they had some fatal flaw that turns other teams off (Johnny Manziel types).

The crux of the argument for avoiding the Jets would be that the Jets organization would prevent a player from being good and put him in one of the other two buckets. While player development on the coaching side is an important aspect of the NFL we are always guilty of overstating the impact they have on great players. Patrick Mahomes was going to be a great QB whether or not Andy Reid was his coach. Allen, who is probably the best case of a NFL “developed” star, has skills that were going to make him great at some point. The coaches who developed him went out and failed in NY as do so many coaches who had the magic touch with a player who was super talented. Trevor Lawrence went to an organization every bit as bad as the Jets and wound up as one of the highest paid players in NFL history. If Moore is that good he will land in this tier regardless of whether or not he is picked by the Jets or some other team.

The second group is the group where players struggle as rookies and then get opportunities. Some develop and some don’t. Sam Darnold after leaving the Jets signed contracts worth $4.5 million, $10 million, and finally $33.5 million. Would Darnold have been good without Minnesota?  Probably, but he needed the opportunity to start again and found it there. There was no magic offense. Things started to click. Same goes for Mayfield who signed for $4 million and then $33 million. Last time I checked the head coach who “developed” Mayfield couldn’t get anything out of Darnold as a rookie.

Fields was able to collect without even having to take the small contracts the other two players I mentioned received. He signed for $20 million a year and will end up collecting $30 million from the Jets for one awful year. Zach Wilson draft stock convinced Miami that he was worth $6 million until they saw him and wound up turning to 7^th round pick Quinn Ewers instead.

The last group are the ones that struggle but even there they get some opportunities. Lance signed this year for $2 million. Mac Jones is at $3.5 million. That said the opportunities are usually more limited for these players and they can quickly wind up playing for the minimum and then leaving the NFL in a few more seasons. Still its usually clear that coaching didn’t make these players bad as other teams didn’t see much in them after giving them looks in practice.

If Moore was to go back to college he has to do something to protect his draft status to have any of this make sense. I have no idea what NIL money would be on the table for Moore to go back to college. For the sake of argument let’s call it $7 million, which seems high but whatever. To break even initially he would need to fall to no worse than 5^th in the NFL Draft. Anything more than that and he will lose money initially.

He still has to contend with going to a bad football team if he is going to be selected that high in 2027. It could be the Jets again. It might be the Browns. Maybe the Cardinals. The point is the vast majority of the time players drafted highly go to bad organizations. If you are good you overcome that. If you aren’t good you simply aren’t good.

The big risk is what happens when you fall?  Moore has no real college history outside of this year and this is a weak QB year meaning it is probably the peak of his draft stock. If he has a bad year or gets injured and falls in the draft the dynamic completely changes. The NFL treats the players with a first round grade as if they are gold. The higher the player is picked the more that gold shines and players get those opportunities like Wilson and Darnold.

The more you drop the less shine you have around the NFL. If you drop out of the first round completely all bets are off. You don’t get the same considerations. One of the best examples of this was Matt Barkley who years ago was projected to be the top pick in the draft before he decided to return to college. Things went poorly and he got hurt to boot. He dropped to the 4^th round and his career earnings were in the ballpark of $10 million and he never signed a contract worth more than $2 million. Falling in the draft will have far more of a detrimental impact than being coached by Aaron Glenn and company.

The reality is if he is good he is going to overcome whatever the negatives are with a bad team and he will get paid near the top of the market likely in 2029. If he isn’t good he still is going to make a killing as a rookie, then get some opportunities that average around $7 million a season and still have the same chance at making big money as if he was drafted by a good team. At worst he stinks and still collects a few million and bounces around the NFL for a few years.

If he goes back to college and collects his NIL all he really does is push the clock back a year. He is still going to a bad team and if he is good he will overcome it except now we have to wait until 2030 for the payday. All the other scenarios remain the same except we push the clock one year. Why would you take the risk of injury and poor play to return to school and at best come out even?

There is a time and place for a discussion about going back to school. The NIL money is big enough for players who may not be 1^st rounders or those who believe they can increase their draft stock, but when you are locked in as a top pick already there is no incentive to return to school. There is no financial upside and it would make no sense to pretend there is one to give someone bad advice.

The Falcons and QB Kirk Cousins have agreed to a modified contract per ESPN’s Field Yates which sets the stage for Cousins release from the Falcons while also helping the Falcons with their salary cap situation in 2026. Here is a breakdown of what the Falcons did.

In Cousins’ prior contract he was set to count for $57.5 million against the salary cap in 2026 which would have had the Falcons somewhere around the salary cap limit for 2026. Nobody expected Cousins to be a member of the Falcons next year and he would carry a dead money charge of $35 million once cut. That would allow Atlanta to free up about $22.5 million in cap room, giving them some breathing room with the cap.

The problem for Atlanta was Cousins’ contract has a $10 million salary guarantee which prevented the team from releasing Cousins prior to the start of free agency, meaning his $57.5 million cap charge would need to be carried on the books for the start of the 2026 league year, perhaps causing the team to restructure some other contracts for cap relief that they really did not want to touch. This modification gives the Falcons the breathing room they need to deal with Cousins and make out in the best way possible for their cap situation.

The team reduced Cousins paper salary from $35 million to $2.1 million. The reason for the $2.1 million number is because it equals the maximum payment that Cousins could have received if he were injured in the final game of the season in 2025 and that injury prevented him from playing in 2026. This allows Cousins to still collect in the event he had been injured. His roster bonus, which is guaranteed will remain in place. This drops Cousins cap charge immediately to $24.6 million, a savings of $32.5 million on the cap.

This low cap charge allows the Falcons to designate Cousins a post June 1 release at the start of the new league year. He would remain on the teams cap at $24.6 million until June 1 at which point his cap charge will drop to $22.5 million for the year. $12.5 million in dead money will be deferred to 2027. To ensure the Falcons release him, Atlanta gave him a guarantee trigger on his entire 2027 salary of $67.9 million of the 3rd day of the league year meaning that the Falcons will cut him on March 12th to avoid that trigger.

Cousins will join a growing list of players who are helping teams with their salary cap on their way out the door. He is not the only player who did a modification like this late in the year (Saturday was the final day teams could modify contracts in this manner to take advantage of the post June 1 rules) but it is an interesting trend around the NFL where teams are consistently finding ways to get more help with their salary cap from players who were signed to bad contracts.

With the season over I thought it might be a fun look to see what teams lost a good deal of their salary to various reserve lists this year relative to their total annual salary on the team. Reserve lists count for players on IR, PUP, NFI, SUS, etc…They do not count for players who were simply inactive. The amount of game weeks they were on reserve are used to calculate their adjusted reserve salary for the season. Here is the breakdown for 2025.

The 49ers and Chargers really defied the odds managing their roster while dealing with injuries to some star players during the course of the season. On the other end of the spectrum teams like the Giants and Cowboys struggled despite being relatively healthy. Here is how things look across the NFL for wins vs salary lost.

Teams in the top left are all good teams who were basically healthy while the top right are the two teams that were hit hard by injury yet still did well. The bottom left are teams that probably underperformed relative to injury while the ones on the bottom right were banged up and played as if they were banged up.

Last week was a reminder as to just how challenging it is for NFL players to earn incentives in their contracts, and how so few are achieved. From what I listed last week as possibilities, only the following incentives were earned:

• Cameron Jordan: 9 sacks for $600,000
• Mike Jackson: 4 interceptions for $500,000
• Stefon Diggs: 70 receptions for $500,000
• Hunter Henry: 55 receptions for $250,000
• Dawson Knox: 30 receptions for $100,000

In addition, the amount of points the Dolphins have both allowed and scored are going to be critical in Week 18 for the wallets of multiple players in Miami, as top 20 rankings in one of each are a necessary condition. For points scored, they are 22nd with 337. The Giants and Chiefs stand in their way of getting in the top 20 with 247 and 350. Points allowed is even closer: they are 21st with 386, only two behind the Falcons with 384. What these players on the Dolphins will want is not only to find a way to beat the Patriots with a high margin of victory despite them fighting for high playoff seeding, but also for the Cowboys and Raiders getting stingy on defense, and the Saints to be able to put up a lot of points.

As with last week, here’s the update of incentives that could be practical to earn, broken down by broadcast window:

Saturday, January 3

Sunday, January 4 (early afternoon)

Sunday, January 4 (late afternoon)

Sunday, January 4 (evening)