Docs Website

54 Years Strong! A Trusted Leader In Sports Picks, Best Bets and Predictions Since 1971.

Main Menu

Ridiculous Things NFL Players Did to Hit Late-Season Contract Incentives

by Jeremy Block - 10/30/2026

Ridiculous things NFL players did to earn late season incentives Chris Jones

Contract incentives in the NFL used to be fine print that nobody outside the front office bothered reading. Once the figures and salaries started getting mentioned in interviews, on broadcasts and at sportsbooks, fans suddenly knew a backup tight end’s catch bonus better than his usage on third down.

The final few weeks of the regular season are usually when incentive chasing gets interesting. Most players hit their marks with a routine catch or an extra tackle, while others go to ridiculous lengths that would make a head coach furious, from lobbying the coaching staff to ignoring orders on the sideline to flashing cash at a referee. Let’s check out six players who pushed it further than anybody should to hit their late-season incentives.

Doc’s Sports offers NFL expert picks for every game on our NFL predictions page.

Chad Ochocinco (2009)

Most receivers argue with the officials when a catch gets reviewed. Chad Ochocinco, on the other hand, being the personality he was on the field, tried to pay a ref off instead. Midway through the 2009 season, Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer hit him for a 15-yard gain in the third quarter against the Ravens, and Baltimore challenged that he’d stepped out of bounds. While the officials went to the replay booth, Ochocinco pulled a $1 bill out of his sock and held it up toward one of them.

Replay ended up overturning the catch anyway, and the league fined Ochocinco $20,000 for flashing cash at an official. He brushed it off at the time as him just being himself, and he went on to make the Pro Bowl that season, so nobody thought much about the money side of it.

Years later, however, he posted on social media that he needed that catch to hit an incentive in his contract. Only Ochocinco could turn a one-dollar bribe into a $20,000 loss.

Sen’Derrick Marks (2014)

Late in the 2014 season, the Jaguars and Titans met on a Thursday night with nothing on the line but draft position. So, in other words, not a competitive game by any means. Both teams came in at 2-12, and most of the players on the field were already thinking about the offseason. Jaguars defensive tackle Sen’Derrick Marks didn’t see it that way. He was sitting at 7.5 sacks for the season, one away from a $600,000 bonus, and he was running out of snaps to get there.

Up 21-13 on the final play of the game, Jacksonville only needed to get off the field. Marks went full speed on a snap most players would waltz through like a no-pads practice drill, blew past his blocker and chased down Titans quarterback Charlie Whitehurst for a 9-yard loss. The sack gave him 8.0 for the year and triggered the bonus, all on the last play of a 3-12 season. It looked good on paper, but given the situation, it was a bit childish.

Nick Foles (2018)

Backup quarterbacks usually sign contracts stuffed with playing-time bonuses, and Nick Foles had a $1 million one tied to playing 33% of the Eagles’ snaps and Philadelphia making the playoffs. Then the opportunity opened up when starting quarterback Carson Wentz’s fractured vertebra handed him the job down the stretch, and he ran with it, going 4-1 as a starter that season. Foles threw for a franchise-record 471 yards against Houston, then completed an NFL-record-tying 25 straight passes in the finale against Washington.

Everything was going to plan in a 24-0 win until Foles bruised his ribs in the fourth quarter and had to come out. He finished with 357 of the team’s 1,092 snaps, or 32.69%, leaving him four plays short of $1 million. The Eagles decided four snaps wasn’t worth fighting over with their Super Bowl MVP and paid him the $1 million anyway. Loyalty from a franchise is hard to come by in the modern age of football, but some organizations still take care of their own.

Emmanuel Sanders (2020)

No matter a player’s position or seniority, it’s safe to say most players let their agents worry about contract incentives. Emmanuel Sanders was the outlier here, and he decided to handle his in person. In his first season in New Orleans, the night before the Saints’ final regular-season game against the Panthers, the veteran receiver walked up to head coach Sean Payton sitting eight catches away from 60 for the year and a $500,000 bonus.

Instead of brushing him off, Payton told him he already knew why he was there. He promised Sanders six catches before the end of the first quarter, with one condition: he was staying in the game. Drew Brees was in on it too and admitted afterward the plan all day was to keep feeding him.

Sanders finished with exactly eight catches in a 33-7 blowout, enough to land on 60 receptions for the season and collect the $500,000. Not many players can say they negotiated their own game plan the night before kickoff.

Rob Gronkowski (2021)

Begging is usually beneath a four-time Super Bowl champion, but $500,000 can humble anybody. Rob Gronkowski had already cleared a $500,000 yardage bonus in the regular-season finale against the Panthers, and he needed one more catch, his 55th, for another $500,000.

Late in the fourth quarter, the Bucs were up 31-17, and head coach Bruce Arians was ready to pull his starters. Gronkowski walked up to Tom Brady on the sideline and told him he needed one more, even joking that if he didn't get it, he'd have to go get a real job. Brady ignored Arians, jogged back onto the field and hit Gronkowski for 7 yards on the first play of the drive, then handed the game over to backup quarterback Blaine Gabbert. Gronkowski finished the year with 55 catches for 802 yards and picked himself up a quick $1 million in incentives.

Chris Jones (2023)

Playoff teams tend to treat their final regular-season game like a preseason game, and the Chiefs were in that exact spot after locking up the AFC's No. 3 seed before kickoff against the Chargers. Starters were taking the day off and enjoying the view from the sideline, but star defensive tackle Chris Jones wasn't interested in that. Jones, who held out into the regular season over his contract, was sitting at 9.5 sacks, 0.5 sacks from a $1.25 million bonus.

Behind the scenes, Jones reportedly worked out an arrangement with head coach Andy Reid to stay on the field long after most of the starters had been pulled. He finally got to Chargers backup quarterback Easton Stick with 4:11 left in the third quarter for his 10th sack, then promised to buy his defensive linemen and coaches Rolex watches. Kansas City still won 13-12 with a lineup full of backups. Not a bad return on a few extra quarters of work.

Get NFL picks on every single game, or if you want our very best bets by the experts, sign up for your free $60 account with a guarantee.

 

Most Recent NFL Handicapping

One E-mail A Week Is All You Need!
Our weekly newsletter is loaded with exclusive free picks,insight and advice from our expert handicappers