How the Bills and Commanders Got Paid for Playoff Heartbreak

Losing stings.

Money helps.

The Bills and Commanders won’t advance to the Super Bowl after falling to the Chiefs and Eagles on Sunday in the AFC and NFC title games, respectively.

Still, the semifinalists will get a payday from the league for making it to the NFL’s final four, as outlined in the collective bargaining agreement.

Here’s a breakdown of the earnings for Bills and Commanders players:

• Each Bills player made $54,500 for winning the AFC East. Each Commanders player earned $49,500 for making it to the wild-card round.
  
• Bills and Commanders players earned $54,500 for making the divisional round.
  
• Bills and Commanders players made $77,000 for appearing in their respective conference championships.
  
• In total, the deep postseason runs earned each Bills player $186,000 and each Commanders player $181,000.
  
• Commanders linebacker Bobby Wagner triggered a $500,000 bonus for making the playoffs after playing a certain percentage of regular-season snaps.

All players on the roster or injured reserve are eligible for the wild-card and divisional bonuses. The conference championships are more specific to benefit players who spent significant time with the team. Rostered players get fully paid only if they’ve played at least three games with that team already, and players who aren’t on the roster but spent at least eight games with the team can also get the full amount (if they aren’t signed to another team in that conference). Other rules exist to give players a half or quarter of the bonus based on their time with the team or injury or veteran status.

Generally speaking, a 53-man roster of full bonuses would total $9,858,000 for Buffalo players and $9,593,000 for Washington players. Including injured reserve and special cases, it’s likely the total amount for both teams crosses the eight-figure threshold. This money comes from the league, not from Buffalo or Washington.

Player pay in the playoffs is relatively low compared to the regular season. For example, a $45,020 fine Ravens corner Marlon Humphrey received for hitting Josh Allen in the divisional round wiped out nearly his entire $54,500 paycheck from that game. In the regular season, Humphrey makes more than $600,000 per game.

Stakes are higher in the Super Bowl. Winning players will get $171,000 apiece, while losing players will get $96,000. An Eagles win would give players $357,000 apiece for the full playoff run, and Chiefs players $352,000 (Kansas City’s first-round bye makes $5,000 less in the wild-card round than division-winning, bye-less Philadelphia.)

Allen would have made an extra $1 million if the Bills beat the Chiefs on Sunday night, and he could’ve made another $2.5 million for winning the Super Bowl.

Players aren’t the only ones who have contract incentives for playoff runs. Buffalo coach Sean McDermott and Washington coach Dan Quinn likely both triggered bonuses in their contracts. Coaching contract details aren’t usually public, though Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh made $1 million just for making the wild-card round. McDermott and Quinn have smaller salaries than Harbaugh, but they advanced much farther than the Chargers, who lost that wild-card game.