The Seattle Seahawks are atop the NFC West, and with a win in Week 18, they would clinch the West and also the NFC's top seed and a first-round bye.
This has been a wildly successful season, as Sam Darnold has emerged as a strong top quarterback in the NFL. After signing a $100.5 million deal with Seattle, Darnold is eyeing even more money this season.
According to ESPN's Marc Raimondi, Darnold enters Week 17 with a chance to earn another $5 million in total incentives. There are a bunch of different escalators that could trigger those incentives, all of which could be reached by Darnold this season.
Sam Darnold has $5 million up for grabs this season in incentives
"Darnold can make an extra $500,000 with a 100.0 or higher passer rating this season, plus another $500,000 apiece with 28 or more passing touchdowns, 4,000 or more passing yards, or a 67.5% or higher completion percentage," Raimondi reports.
Entering Week 17, Darnold sits at a passer rating of 100.6, 24 touchdown passes, 3,703 passing yards, and a 67.2% completion percentage.
He's already reached the passer rating threshold, but would need just four more passing touchdowns in the final two weeks against the Carolina Panthers and San Francisco 49ers to earn another $500,000.
He's also just 297 yards away from another $500,000, and if he can throw only a few incompletions in the final two weeks, he could make another $500,000, though that completion percentage mark might be one of the hardest to reach.
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But that's not all for Darnold. If Seattle's offenses finished top-10 in total offense, he'll make $500,000. He also would make $500,000 if they make the playoffs, which he's already earned.
In the playoffs, Darnold has a lot of money at stake. A divisional round win would net him $1.0 million, a $1.5 million bonus for an NFC Championship win, and a $2.5 million bonus for a Super Bowl win.
As Raimondi notes, Darnold would need to play 70% of the snaps during a postseason run for those incentives to hit.
While the playoff bonuses might be a bit out of reach, these last two weeks present a great opportunity for Darnold to secure millions of dollars in incentives due to individual and team accolades to close out the regular season.
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