National Football Post reports, via the Boston Globe, that Gary Guyton ranked 3rd highest in performance based compensation.
Gary Guyton took home $349,437 in performance-based pay, which ranked him third in the NFL. A quick explanation: This is a way the league rewards players in the lower salary range that have high play-time percentages. Almost always, the guys with high payouts are young players who were drafted low (or, in Guyton's case, not drafted at all) and played a lot.
Guyton stepped in to start at ILB this season after a wave of retirements. Guyton was an undrafted rookie who we picked up two season ago and he performed admirably. While he seemed to play second fiddle to Jerod Mayo later in the season, Guyton stepped up when Mayo was injured early on and led our young defense.
The method of Guyton's compensation?
The system divides a total of $109,532,000 among the 32 teams with $3,422,875 being divided by each team. The league uses a formula based on playing time percentage and a player’s salary cap. So the rookie who plays the most to the veteran who plays the least all get a check.
A check well deserved, in my opinion. He did better than anyone expected and will help out the team for years to come.
Oh- and pay the man! He is currently an Exclusive Rights Free Agent, which means that we still have control over him. However, I want the Patriots to sign him long term. While he may not become an elite starter, he has the potential to be an extremely helpful contributor to our young defense. Guyton has the speed and athleticism to be a great inside pass rusher- a job I hope we delegate to him more frequently on blitz packages.