Week 18 settles playoff field and draft order but also served as the last chance to reach bonuses
DENVER (AP) — It’s not about the money until it is.
The final weekend of the NFL regular season brought the usual intrigue over which teams would clinch the final playoff spots — the Buccaneers and Broncos — and who would get the No. 1 overall draft pick — the Titans — presumably to choose between Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders and his teammate, Heisman Trophy-winning, two-way star Travis Hunter, in the NFL draft in Green Bay.
Then, there were the smattering of money-packed milestones for some players who were within reach of lucrative contract incentives in Week 18.
Tampa Bay receiver Mike Evans had the most at stake. He needed five catches totaling 85 yards for an extra $3 million, which is one reason Baker Mayfield didn’t just take a knee when the Bucs got the ball back with 36 seconds left up 27-19 on the Saints with Evans sitting at eight receptions for 80 yards.
That put his season total at 995 yards, threatening to end his streak of 10 consecutive 1,000-yard seasons.
So, Mayfield threw to Evans, whose 9-yard reception on the final play of the game allowed him to surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the 11th straight season, tying Jerry Rice for the most ever in the NFL and setting off a wild celebration by teammates glad he got a piece of history and that big bonus.
Seattle quarterback Geno Smith needed 185 yards passing against the Rams on Sunday to claim a $2 million bonus and he threw for 223 yards and four touchdowns in Seattle’s 30-25 victory.
And Buffalo pass rusher Von Miller’s sack of Drake Maye on Sunday was his sixth of the year, good for a $1.5 million bonus.
Baltimore running back Derrick Henry needed one touchdown against Cleveland to earn a $500,000 bonus and he scored twice in the final seven minutes of the Ravens’ 35-10 rout of the Browns.
Denver wide receiver Courtland Sutton needed 82 yards receiving against Kansas City for a $500,000 bonus and he got 98 yards on five catches in the Broncos’ 38-0 whitewash of the Chiefs’ backups.
“Today, with you know, trying to keep track of some of those bonuses, those are good problems,” coach Sean Payton said after leading the Broncos into the playoffs in his second season in Denver. “It’s hard to keep track of yards, catches are easy. Sutton needed 82 yards.”
In that game, three-time All-Pro wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins, who was acquired by the Chiefs in a midseason trade with Tennessee, had $1 million worth of bonuses that would have been triggered by catching nine passes ($250,000), for 140 yards ($250,000) and a touchdown ($500,000).
“We want the guys to be able to reach them if they’re reachable,” Chiefs coach Andy Reid said last week.
But Reid decided it was better to hold Hopkins out along with the other starters so they could rest up for the playoffs.
Among others who fell short were Cardinals QB Kyler Murray, who threw four TD passes in leading Arizona over the 49ers 47-24 but he needed to run for 50 yards and a touchdown for a $750,000 bonus. He ran for 22 yards and no TDs.
Commanders tight end Zach Ertz stood to earn an extra $250,000 each for reaching 90 yards receiving and two TD catches Sunday and had 44 yards and one TD catch in Washington’s 23-19 win over the Cowboys.
Payton recalled when Emmanuel Sanders approached him on the eve of the season finale when they were both in New Orleans.
“When Emmanuel Sanders needed six or seven catches in New Orleans, he came up to me and I said, ‘Look, I already know why you’re here,’ I said, ‘You’ll have six catches before the end of the first quarter, but you’re staying in the game,’ and I think he had like, nine or 10 catches,” Payton said. “But yards are different, some of those things are different, and I want all of them to realize all those things they earned.”
More than securing his bonus, Sutton was elated to clinch his first trip to the playoffs in his seven-year career in Denver.
“Through those dark times, through those seasons where we were playing the last three, four games of the season without playoff contention, those are those times where you have to lean on faith,” Sutton said. “You have to understand that the picture is going to get bigger and better in the long haul. You just have to continue to have that faith that it’s going to get there.”
That bonus was, well, a bonus.
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