The New England Patriots have continued their open-wallet policy this offseason by giving SS Patrick Chung an opportunity to make an extra $800,000 this year, nearly doubling his incentives per ESPN’s Field Yates.
Source: the Patriots have given S Patrick Chung a chance to earn $800k extra this season, boosting his incentives from $900k to $1.7M.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) June 17, 2017
The Patriots have been open with their money this offseason, giving out a major deal to CB Stephon Gilmore in free agency, retaining LB Dont’a Hightower, extending WR Julian Edelman, and giving TE Rob Gronkowski an opportunity to make a lot more money in 2017 without getting anything in exchange.
Chung’s incentives were previously linked to his playing time, where he would earn “$200,000 for playing at least 60 percent of the defensive snaps, $500,000 for playing at least 70 percent of the defensive snaps, or $900,000 for playing at least 80 percent of the defensive snaps each season,” per Yates.
It is still unknown what Chung’s new incentives are, but it’s possible he will just receive more money for each of those tiers. Chung played 96.5% of snaps in 2016 and has exceeded 70% each of his three years in his latest stint as a Patriots.
Fellow Patriots FS Duron Harmon signed a 4-year, $17 million contract with New England this offseason for an average of $4.25 million per year. Chung has been operating on a 4-year, $13.9 million contract that consists of an original 3-year, $8.2 million deal and a tacked on 1-year, $5.7 million extension. It’s likely that Harmon’s new deal sparked this latest renegotiation.
Chung’s base salary is $2.5 million and he has $400,000 tied up in per-game bonuses ($25,000 per game), so Chung could possibly make $4.6 million in cash this season, edging out Harmon’s annual average.
Chung is under contract through the 2018 season.