The Buffalo Bills will be paying two of the 20 most expensive running backs in 2018, now that the contract details have been released for Chris Ivory’s most recent free agent contract. Mike Rodak of ESPN had the numbers on Friday but they got lost in the Bills trades taking place in the interim.
Ivory received a $1.5 million signing bonus and will make $1 million in 2018 in salary. That salary jumps to $1.5 million in 2019. He can earn per-game active bonuses of $31,250 which total $500,000 in each season. He has a $250,000 workout bonus on each season, as well. Ivory was active for 14 games in 2017, making $437,500 of his per-game bonus Likely To Be Earned and applicable to the cap in 2018.
This contract puts Ivory just ahead of running backs like New England Patriots’ Mike Gillislee and behind others like Baltimore’s Danny Woodhead in terms of average yearly salary. It’s a bottom-level starter or upper-level backup deal.
2018
Salary: $1 million
Pro-rated portion of signing bonus: $750,000
Workout bonus: $250,000
Games played bonus: $500,000
LTBE portion: $437,500
Cap hit: $2,437,500
2019
Salary: $1.5 million
Pro-rated portion of signing bonus: $750,000
Workout bonus: $250,000
Games played bonus: $500,000
Cap hit: $3 million
Dead cap if released: $750,000
Potential savings if released: $2.25 million