Some Bears' bonus checks that might surprise you
Bears starting safeties Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey didn't make many plays on the ball during the 2016 season, but they played enough to collect more than $425,000 combined in performance-based pay.
The bonus money comes from a league pool that rewards NFL players whose base salaries don't match their playing time. Each team receives $3.995 million to allocate.
The Bears' safeties, both second-year players, combined for 1 interception (by Jones-Quartey) and 1 forced fumble (by Amos). But Amos started 14 games and played in 15, taking 92.3 percent of the snaps in those games. Jones-Quartey started 12, played in all 16 and was on the field for 68.0 percent of the snaps in those games.
Amos' performance-based pay was $226,366, while Jones-Quartey made an extra $199,936 on top of his base salary.
Jones-Quartey was second on the team with 82 tackles, while Amos was fifth with 60. Each player had 4 pass breakups, tied for fifth on the team.
Offensive left tackle Charles Leno led the Bears in performance-based pay with $228,015. The 2014 seventh-round draft pick played every one of the offense's 1,010 snaps.
Undrafted rookie cornerback Cre'Von LeBlanc played 80.7 percent of the snaps in 13 games, including nine starts, and he earned an extra $204,841.
NFL bonus pay
Performance-based pay for the 2016 Bears season:
Pos. player Amount
OT Charles Leno $228,015
S Adrian Amos $226,366
CB Cre'Von LeBlanc $204,841
S Harold Jones-Quartey $199,936
WR Cam Meredith $174,978
C Cody Whitehair $174,298
RB Jordan Howard $169,845
LB Sam Acho $140,628
LB Nick Kwiatkoski $128,408
WR Josh Bellamy $126,045
TE Logan Paulsen $124,451
CB Bryce Callahan $120,437
TE Ben Braunecker $102,281
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