The Bills gave Richie Incognito more money than most people were expecting a guy who spent last year as an NFL pariah to receive.
PFT has learned that Incognito received a $100,000 signing bonus, which comes as a surprise. Incognito was believed to be desperate just to get a shot to return to the NFL, so the fact that the Bills had to give him a bonus to get him to sign is odd. Maybe the Bills thought another team was in the running to get Incognito.
Incognito also got a $900,000 non-guaranteed base salary, roster bonuses of $21,875 for each game that he’s on the 46-man active roster (which would total $350,000 if he plays all 16 games), and playing-time incentives that begin if he takes 60 percent of the Bills’ offensive snaps and max at $800,000 if he plays 75 percent of the snaps in 2015. Incognito can also get a $100,000 workout bonus.
That’s a pretty good contract, suggesting that the Bills identified signing Incognito as a key priority and wanted to get the deal done quickly. When Incognito was first suspended by the Dolphins in 2013 for bullying teammate Jonathan Martin, there was talk that it could have represented the end of Incognito’s career, or that if he ever returned he’d be lucky just to find a team willing to give him the league minimum. The Bills have given Incognito significantly more than that.