Two holding penalties and/or a stint in the medical tent ended up costing Rhyan 42 percent of his career earnings over his rookie contract
The NFL has a proven performance escalator for rookie contracts, which allows players to receive a significant pay bump in Year 4 of their initial NFL contracts if they hit certain metrics. For Green Bay Packers guard Sean Rhyan, the big number he needed to hit was 35 percent of snaps played (on the offensive side of the ball) over his first three NFL seasons. Had he hit this mark, he would have earned an extra $2.04 million in salary for the 2025 season.
At the end of the 2024 season, it was expected that Rhyan would clear that 35 percent mark. Rhyan’s agent even told ESPN that they had calculated that he had hit the exact number of snaps to reach 35 percent. Instead, though, the NFL and NFLPA both stated that Rhyan had come under 35 percent for the 2022-2024 seasons.
Rhyan told ESPN’s Rob Demovsky on Thursday that miscounting apparently happened due to plays that involved the guard causing a penalty.
“My agent called and said I missed it by two. Supposedly [plays with] penalties don’t count. The two holding calls I got are two plays that could’ve gotten me there, so it just makes me be better.”
Rhyan also has regrets over a series where he missed time in Week 14 due to going through concussion protocol:
“I was fucking waiting in the tent for the concussion guy to come down. I’m like, ‘Hey what’s going on? And I’m just sitting there watching the game through the crack.”
Rhyan will end up making $1.4 million in cash in 2025, as long as he remains on the Packers’ roster for all of the regular season. At that point, his career earnings will rise to $4.8 million for his NFL career. So those two penalties and/or stint in the tent in Week 14 ended up costing him about 42 percent of his career earnings through four years of NFL service. That’s a tough pill to swallow.
It’s great that the NFL has incentivized playing time for rookie contract players, but Rhyan’s situation stresses how important it is for young players to see sustained playing time early in their careers with the current system.