It’s a bonus, baby! Miami’s Davis earns an extra $495K

DAVIE — Miami Dolphins starting offensive lineman Jesse Davis earned more than $495,000 in performance-based pay, in addition to his base salary for the 2018 season, the NFL announced Thursday.

Davis, who played every offensive snap last season as a starting right guard for the Dolphins, earned a total of $495,824 in extra compensation, which ranked fourth among all NFL players to be awarded the benefit this season.

The performance-based pay program was created to serve as a supplemental form of player compensation based on a comparison of playing time to salary. Players with minimal salaries and significant playing time benefited the most.

In addition to the program, which includes rookie players, a separate veteran’s performance-based compensation pool was created to award players who played more than one season.

In all, NFL players earned $140.88 million in performance-based pay and $40 million from the veteran pool this season.

Davis, who was undrafted out of Utah in 2015, earned $374,833 from the performance-based pool and $120,991 from the veteran pool. That pay comes in addition to the league-minimum base salary of $555,000 he earned during his fourth NFL season.

The Dolphins placed a tender on Davis as an exclusive-rights free agent earlier this month and are expected to reach a new deal with him before next season.